Tonight my boyfriend was preparing some flounder for dinner and found
orangish-red worms in it. Tomorrow is the sell-by date on the package.

I guess I want to know if this is normal for fish or an indication that
something is wrong? Has anyone else found worms in fish? Do you pick
them out and eat it anyway? We were so repulsed we threw it away.

-Becky

Becky wrote:

> Tonight my boyfriend was preparing some flounder for dinner and found
> orangish-red worms in it. Tomorrow is the sell-by date on the package.
>
> I guess I want to know if this is normal for fish or an indication that
> something is wrong? Has anyone else found worms in fish? Do you pick
> them out and eat it anyway? We were so repulsed we threw it away.

Yes, something is wrong, but it's not all that unusual. Google for
anisakiasis, and don't eat the orangish-red worms unless they're THOROUGHLY
cooked.

Bob

bluebeamsky wrote:
> Tonight my boyfriend was preparing some flounder for dinner and found
> orangish-red worms in it. Tomorrow is the sell-by date on the
> package.
>
> I guess I want to know if this is normal for fish or an indication
> that something is wrong? Has anyone else found worms in fish? Do
> you pick them out and eat it anyway? We were so repulsed we threw it
> away.
>
> -Becky

Disgusting! Glad you threw it away! The fish was not fresh or was not
properly flash-frozen. They were probably hook-worms which can cause severe
intestinal discomfort if ingested. Just nasty (and one reason I refuse to
eat raw fish, I don't care how trendy, Asian or left-coastish it may be).

Jill

Jill replied to Becky:

>> Tonight my boyfriend was preparing some flounder for dinner and found
>> orangish-red worms in it. Tomorrow is the sell-by date on the
>> package.
<snip>
> Disgusting! Glad you threw it away! The fish was not fresh or was not
> properly flash-frozen.

I don't think freshness was as much an issue as the fact that the fish had a
parasitic infestation. Fish get infested with worms while they're still
alive (how much fresher could it be?), though I hadn't heard that flounder
was particularly susceptible. Cod is notorious for having worms.

Bob

"bluebeamsky" > wrote in message
...
> Tonight my boyfriend was preparing some flounder for dinner and found
> orangish-red worms in it. Tomorrow is the sell-by date on the package.
>
> I guess I want to know if this is normal for fish or an indication that
> something is wrong? Has anyone else found worms in fish? Do you pick them
> out and eat it anyway? We were so repulsed we threw it away.
>
> -Becky

Worms in fish is a common occurrence. Both freezing and cooking usually renders
the little critters harmless. Nonetheless I will chuck a piece of wormy fish.
High quality sea food used to be and in some places still is candled (put on a
light table) to manually remove parasites.

Dimitri

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 15:06:47 GMT, Dimitri wrote:

>
> "bluebeamsky" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Tonight my boyfriend was preparing some flounder for dinner and found
> > orangish-red worms in it. Tomorrow is the sell-by date on the package.
> >
> > I guess I want to know if this is normal for fish or an indication that
> > something is wrong? Has anyone else found worms in fish? Do you pick them
> > out and eat it anyway? We were so repulsed we threw it away.
> >
> > -Becky
>
> Worms in fish is a common occurrence. Both freezing and cooking usually renders
> the little critters harmless. Nonetheless I will chuck a piece of wormy fish.
> High quality sea food used to be and in some places still is candled (put on a
> light table) to manually remove parasites.
>
<shudder>
If I ever saw a wormy fish, I'd probably stop eating fish entirely.

sf
not much of a fish eater in the first place

>

sf wrote:

> > "bluebeamsky" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > Tonight my boyfriend was preparing some flounder for dinner and found
> > > orangish-red worms in it. Tomorrow is the sell-by date on the
package.
> > >
> > > I guess I want to know if this is normal for fish or an indication
that
> > > something is wrong? Has anyone else found worms in fish? Do you
pick them
> > > out and eat it anyway? We were so repulsed we threw it away.
> > >
> > > -Becky
> >
> > Worms in fish is a common occurrence. Both freezing and cooking
usually renders
> > the little critters harmless. Nonetheless I will chuck a piece of
wormy fish.
> > High quality sea food used to be and in some places still is candled
(put on a
> > light table) to manually remove parasites.
> >
> <shudder>
> If I ever saw a wormy fish, I'd probably stop eating fish entirely.
>
> sf
> not much of a fish eater in the first place


A chef friend still candles all her fish, she'll dump a seafood provisioner
toot sweet if she gets too much parasite - ey fish...

And didja know that the FDA safety guidelines permit a certain amount of
"insect parts" in many foodstuffs? Think about it next time you open that
can of tomato sauce ;-)

--
Best
Greg

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 18:35:54 GMT, Gregory Morrow wrote:

> And didja know that the FDA safety guidelines permit a certain amount of
> "insect parts" in many foodstuffs? Think about it next time you open that
> can of tomato sauce ;-)

Thank goodness I don't use many canned goods. Have you tried watching
any of those survivor type shows? The last time I ran across one,
they had people eating maggots that were at least 3 inches long. ICK!
I watched about 5 seconds of that.

Nothing wrng with bugs - most of the rest of the world eats them... How
much different are they from shrimp, lobster and crab, squid and
octopus ?

And you better stop eating leafy greens (home grown & organic
especially) as they are full of insects and eggs.

Says I who won a neat hat in a mescal (tequila) worm eating contest.

On 4 Aug 2005 12:49:40 -0700, Seamus wrote:

> Nothing wrng with bugs - most of the rest of the world eats them... How
> much different are they from shrimp, lobster and crab, squid and
> octopus ?
>
> And you better stop eating leafy greens (home grown & organic
> especially) as they are full of insects and eggs.
>
> Says I who won a neat hat in a mescal (tequila) worm eating contest.

I'm not squeamish about things I don't see.

"Bob" > wrote in message
...

> don't eat the orangish-red worms unless they're THOROUGHLY cooked.


Darn, Orange Worm Sushi was sounding interesting...

:-x


--
She wondered, “what is he chewing on?”
And suddenly, she realized...
www.cafepress.com/dwacon

bluebeamsky wrote:
> Tonight my boyfriend was preparing some flounder for dinner and found
> orangish-red worms in it. Tomorrow is the sell-by date on the package.
>
> I guess I want to know if this is normal for fish or an indication that
> something is wrong? Has anyone else found worms in fish? Do you pick
> them out and eat it anyway? We were so repulsed we threw it away.
>
> -Becky


Well, my boyfriend asked the guy working at the fish counter about the
worms. The guy said that you should just pick them out. He said he
picks worms out of the fish they sell at the store. Bleh.

Thanks for all the responses. I guess it's just something I'll have to
deal with if I want to cook fish. I definitely won't be eating any fish
sushi anymore. I thought parasites were just some fruity thing people
talked about when they were trying to sell you something to "flush your
system". :[

-Becky

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 18:35:54 GMT, "Gregory Morrow"
<gregorymorrowEMERGENCYCANCELLATIONARCHIMEDES@eart hlink.net> wrote:

<snip>

>And didja know that the FDA safety guidelines permit a certain amount of
>"insect parts" in many foodstuffs? Think about it next time you open that
>can of tomato sauce ;-)

*Tomato sauce*? Tru *ketchup*! When I was in college (chemistry
major), one of my freshman classes had us looking at all sorts of
stuff under a microscope to teach us how to use one. Ketchup and hot
dogs were two of the grossest of the foodstuffs. Although I'll use
ketchup, I haven't eaten a hot dog since.

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
AAC(F)BV66.0748.CA

"If the soup had been as hot as the claret, if the claret had been as
old as the bird, and if the bird's breasts had been as full as the
waitress's, it would have been a very good dinner."

-- Duncan Hines

To reply, replace "spaminator" with "cox"

bluebeamsky wrote:

>
> Well, my boyfriend asked the guy working at the fish counter about the
> worms. The guy said that you should just pick them out. He said he
> picks worms out of the fish they sell at the store. Bleh.
>
> Thanks for all the responses. I guess it's just something I'll have to
> deal with if I want to cook fish. I definitely won't be eating any fish
> sushi anymore. I thought parasites were just some fruity thing people
> talked about when they were trying to sell you something to "flush your
> system". :[
>
> -Becky

Ewwwww. I eat fish 2-4 times per week. Sometimes fish I've caught
myself or fish friends have caught, but very often I eat fish purchased
at the market. I've never found worms in my fish (I suppose it could
be that I just don't often eat fish prone to visible parasites like you
found, or the fish folks are more careful about removing them, or
something). If the fish guy was this nonchalant about it and gave you
the impression that it happens frequently, I might consider going to a
different market for fish. I'd much rather buy fish from either a
dedicated fish market or from a store with a serious fish department.

Alexis.

Alexis wrote:

> Ewwwww. I eat fish 2-4 times per week. Sometimes fish I've caught
> myself or fish friends have caught, but very often I eat fish purchased
> at the market. I've never found worms in my fish (I suppose it could
> be that I just don't often eat fish prone to visible parasites like you
> found, or the fish folks are more careful about removing them, or
> something). If the fish guy was this nonchalant about it and gave you
> the impression that it happens frequently, I might consider going to a
> different market for fish. I'd much rather buy fish from either a
> dedicated fish market or from a store with a serious fish department.
>
> Alexis.
>


This was at Whole Foods, an overpriced, gourmet, health food type store.
It kind of seemed like he didn't really want to say it but he was
being honest.

The place I got the fish from was a Korean grocery store. I thought
their fish and meat was shady but we got some anyway. It smelled very
fishy, which I guess is a sign that it's not fresh. I'll never get fish
or meat from there again.

-Becky

Becky wrote:

> The place I got the fish from was a Korean grocery store. I thought their
> fish and meat was shady but we got some anyway. It smelled very fishy,
> which I guess is a sign that it's not fresh.

DEFINITELY! Fishy smell is a sure-fire sign that the fish is not fresh. But
as I wrote in reply to Jill, the fish was infested ANYWAY. It wouldn't have
made any difference if you had gotten it the minute the fish was caught, the
worms would still have been there.


> I'll never get fish or meat from there again.

Wise decision, though I bet you wish you'd never bought from there in the
first place. :-)

Bob

sf wrote:

> If I ever saw a wormy fish, I'd probably stop eating fish entirely.

This thread is having that effect on me. I'm totally grossed out at the
thought of fish now.

serene

On Fri 05 Aug 2005 12:54:08a, serene wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> sf wrote:
>
>> If I ever saw a wormy fish, I'd probably stop eating fish entirely.
>
> This thread is having that effect on me. I'm totally grossed out at the
> thought of fish now.
>
> serene
>

Yep, me too. I almost never make it at home because I'm the only one whoe
ats fish. Skeptical, now, of fish prepared in restaurants because how would
I know? Ugh!

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day.
Sam Goldwyn, 1882-1974


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Bob wrote:

> DEFINITELY! Fishy smell is a sure-fire sign that the fish is not fresh. But
> as I wrote in reply to Jill, the fish was infested ANYWAY. It wouldn't have
> made any difference if you had gotten it the minute the fish was caught, the
> worms would still have been there.


Yeah, I understand. I was just saying it smelled fishy to illustrate
that the store has low quality fish. :]

-Becky