By Spencer Kent | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Tonight we’ll be featuring the cod served with cherry tomatoes, capers and a side of parasitic worm.
When it comes to our meals, particularly fish, there’s always a risk. Unfortunately, sometimes that risk can be a parasitic worm squirming around on your plate.
A now-viral video posted on Facebook captured a parasitic worm wiggling out of a woman's cod dinner while at the popular Stella Marina Bar & Restaurant in Asbury Park Saturday evening.
Suffice to say the video turned heads (and stomachs.)
But how common is this? And what kind of health risk can these parasites pose?
How common is this?
Jim Guinee, of Middletown, who posted the video, said he was out to dinner at the restaurant Saturday evening with his 80-year-old aunt, girlfriend Jennifer Morzano and several other family members. As Morzano went to cut around the skin, which wasn't quite cooked to her taste, she saw the worm crawling about the plate of fish and rice.
Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University’s Food Science Department, said, unfortunately, this type of situation can be “relatively common.”
“Fish live in the natural environment, and there are parasites in the natural environment, and so fish are going to be infected with these parasites,” Schaffner said.
Despite that reality, however, Schaffner, who has seen the video, acknowledged that this particular situation, “certainly meets the criteria for the yuck factor.”
“Certainly it’s disturbing,” he said. “And I understand why people were upset.”
But, aside from the “yuck factor,” how dangerous can eating a parasitic worm be for humans?
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What are the health risks?
Schaffner said the answer isn’t so simple.
“The issue of risk is a bit more complex and nuanced,” he said. “There are some parasites that only infect fish and don’t infect humans. And there are other parasites that infect fish that can also infect humans. And it’s not clear to me from the video which kind this is.”
Foodborne parasitic infections "vary greatly depending on the type of parasite," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Some can cause diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms while others can cause abdominal and muscle pain, cough, skin lesions, malnutrition, and other symptoms, according to the CDC.
Is cod more susceptible to parasites than other fish?
Schaffner said he didn't know of "any definitive information or a clear picture” of whether some fish are more prone to parasites than others.
However, there is a parasitic worm, known as the cod worm, that is known to commonly infect several fish, particularly cod fish, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Large fish tend to ingest more parasites than smaller fish.
Should you be concerned if you ate infected fish?
Schaffner said that based on the little research he has done after viewing the video, it appears that cod “are most likely infected by the kinds of parasites that only infect fish and not humans.”
But, he noted, “I wouldn’t want to speculate beyond that.”
While he said it’s important to be aware of the health risks of these types of parasites, he also said people should not overreact.
“I like cod and I like salmon and this is not going to dissuade me form eating either in the future,” he said.
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How can this be avoided?
Guinee had told NJ Advance Media that Morzano’s cod wasn't quite cooked to her taste.
And, according to Schaffner, parasites can be more common in uncooked fish.
According to the FAO, to kill parasites, you should cook fish at temperatures of at least 140 degrees or freeze the fish for 24 to 72 hours at minus 4 degree.
The video has gotten more than 100,000 views.
The restaurant responded to the video in a Facebook post, calling it an “irresponsible reaction” and an “attempt to destroy” the establishment’s reputation from “something that could have happened to anyone whether cooking at home or in a restaurant.”
According to experts, that happens to be true.
But, just remember, there are ways to kill those parasites before finding one crawling on your plate.
Related news:
- Video of worm crawling in fish dinner catches the ire of popular Asbury Park restaurant
- Man who contracted flesh-eating bacteria in N.J. waters will need amputations, family says
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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