Worms In Smoked Salmon

[Fish Assassin]

Got given a couple of chums to smoke for a friend. Some thing I hate to do for anyone these days. But I figured I would this one time. They were caught in the Puntledge and frozen. I brind them for 4 days then smoked them all day today. I went to pull them out of the smoker to find little white hairs all over them. Turns out some of them were still moving. It was worms. Gross/sick might just turn me off salmon for awhile. Is this normal? I have never seen this before. I have smoke thousands of pounds of fish and have never seen this. Is it because it is river fish? Does it happen to be because they are chum?

Please help....

 

[Fish Assassin]

Come on, I need your help.. I have never seen this before.

 

[scott craven]

Were they in the fridge when brined ?
i'm sure they were, but if exposed for a long duration
could have been fly's land on them , and then you know ???
Freezing should have killed off any such critter...

 

[Tasteless]

I've seen this hundreds of times in trout especially in the warmer summer months that's why it's highly recommended you do not keep them for consumption in the warmer waters.

I have also seen them a couple times in chinooks, it's recommended you freeze the meat to kill off any worms or cook it at high temperatures to insure you kill off anything inside the meat.

It is also recommended not to gut fish right away because as the fish cools, these worms and other things inside the fish migrate to the warmer parts of he fish like the guts and are removed when you do finally filet/clean them.

In this case maybe they got the worms from the freshwater as chum salmon degrade very rapidly compared to other salmon species in the fresh.

Whatever it was must've been pretty resilient to be alive after being frozen unless they were left out in the open somewhere by accident and like it was said above me flies or something got to the meat.

 

[Fish Assassin]

These fish were well cared for and looked to be in great shape. Once brined they were in the fridge for 4 days. Normaly they would have been in for 5-7, but they were not my fish. The only time they were out of the sealed brine bucket was when they were racked awaiting to go in the smoker. A couple of hours they would have been out. WOuld that have been enough time for the flies to do there work? Seem why to fast. I will have to google fly larva.

 

[lazoman]

My thoughts on worms and gutting your fish is the sooner the better. Most times you will see them in the guts, and they will quickly migrate to the meat once the fish dies.

 

[Fish Assassin]

A captain of mine at work said they are pin worms. I just did a google search and sure enough they look the same.

If so how did the fish get them? Is it fresh water thing? Why have I never seen them before? Do all salmon get these? Maybe it's because the salmon is nearing the end of it life.

I am totally grossed out. Any one want this batch of smoked fish?

 

[spring fever]

Seen those worms in cod and hali-sometimes in salmon-they did not come from handling the fish-they were with the fish when it came to you. Hard to believe they were still alive after all your processing. I think it is a purely cosmetic thing but I wouldn't eat them-cosmetic or Not. Too bad after all the work!

"So many fish-So little Time"

 

[highlights]

Salmon have those "coil" type worms throughout the meat at times. Halibut even more. I tend to leave the meat around the gut area by just cutting it out. The rest of the worms I dig out of the meat. Then I freeze before doing anything else.

Here's something else I found online.


Eating raw fish can result in anisakiasis, an infection caused by an infestation of Anisakis worm larvae.

Now, don't panic, it's not that bad. They're not BIG worms. Not like one of those tapeworms, which can be a foot or two in length and take up more room in your abdominal cavity than you do.

No, these are LITTLE worms. They grow up to a mere one inch in length.
If you're lucky, the worms will wind up in your stomach, where the chief symptom is generally a sudden attack of intolerable pain. It starts within 12 hours after eating the affected fish and continues for two or three days, until the worms expire.

If you're not as fortunate, the larvae head down to your intestines, where they can take up permanent residence.

Cases of anisakiasis turn up from time to time in Japan and the Netherlands, where raw fish eating is common. Here the disorder is often misdiagnosed as appendicitis, peptic ulcer, or stomach cancer.

The only treatment is to poke a tube down your craw and remove the larvae one by one. The only preventive measure is to cook the fish or else freeze it at least three days.

Some of the assassins who run sushi bars will tell you they can check for worms by "candling," holding the fish up to the light and cutting out the larvae before slapping what's left on your platter.

The Centers for Disease Control, however, say the efficacy of this method is on a par with rain dancing.




Definitely gross if you think about it but we eat far too much meat in our diets to really worry about it too much.

Carry on.


HL

 

[highlights]

I mean really , think about all the beef you eat. Tapeworms!!!!!!

and I still take my steaks rare.

Just don't think about it.

 

[profisher]

Pin worms are common in salmon, mostly springs. I see them and tape worms often. Tape worms mostly in springs as well. Tape worms are less of an issue as they are confined to the fishes intestines and are removed when you clean the fish. Pin worms often wiggle out of the flesh once the fish is dead and you will see them half in the flesh and half out while cleaning your catch. I made the mistake of pointing some pin worms out to my wife...she hasn't been very found of fish since. lol More for me!

 

[beemer]

I love sushi!! not

 

[profisher]

If you get Sushi from a local restaurant the salmon used is Sockeye. It is frozen before being served and I've never seen the pin worms in Sockeye, most common is springs. Sushi bought pre-packaged in local grocery outlets, malls is most often farmed Altantic's YUKK. I don't buy any salmon Sushi there.

 

[highlights]

Consuming raw or undercooked meats and fish - larvae and eggs present in meats and fish may infect people if eaten raw or undercooked. Experts say that sushi (raw fish) is safe if it has been frozen beforehand - the risk with fish is mainly freshwater fish.


Ingestion of eggs - eggs get into humans via food, water or contaminated soil (mainly contaminated with infected animal feces). If a host, such as a pig, has a tapeworm inside, proglottids (worm segments) or eggs may be present in its feces, which drop onto the soil. Each segment may have thousands of eggs. A human can become infected by drinking contaminated water, being close to the animals and contaminated soil, or consuming contaminated food. The eggs hatch into larvae (baby tapeworms) and make their way into the gut, or even outside and infect other parts of the body. This type of infection is most common with tapeworms that come from infected pigs, and much less common if the original host was cattle or fish.

Eating infected meat/fish - if the meat or fish has larvae cysts and is undercooked or raw, they can reach the intestine where they mature into adult tapeworms. An adult tapeworm can live as long as 20 years, they can also be up to 50 feet long. Many of them attach themselves to the walls of the intestine, while others will go straight through the digestive system and end up in the toilet when the human passes a stool.

Fish tapeworm infection is more common in countries where the consumption of raw fish is common practice, such as Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Japan. Undercooked or raw freshwater fish, such as salmon, are the most common sources.

Meat and fish - freeze fish for at least 24 hours and meat for at least 12 hours. This will kill tapeworm eggs and larvae.

 

[Charlie]

Parasites become a concern when consumers eat raw or lightly preserved fish such as sashimi, sushi, ceviche, and gravlax. When preparing these products, use commercially frozen fish. Alternatively, freeze the fish to an internal temperature of -4°F for at least 7 days to kill any parasites that may be present. Home freezers may not be cold enough to kill the parasites.

Roundworms called nematodes are the most common parasite found in marine fishes. Some people call these nematodes herring worms or cod worms. Actually, several different species exist and it is hard to distinguish between them. All are in the family Anisakidae and are anisakid nematodes.

Freshwater fish like trout and fish that spend part of their life in freshwater such as salmon may carry Diphyllobothrium tapeworm larvae. These small, whitish, and somewhat flabby worms are common in salmon from some areas of Alaska.

Nematodes rarely cause health problems because they are uncommon in fish fillets and normal cooking easily destroys them. In most cases, swallowing a live nematode is harmless. The nematode passes through the intestine without causing problems.

In rare cases, swallowing a live nematode larva can cause severe gastric upset called anisakiasis. This happens when the nematode attaches to or penetrates the intestinal lining. Nematodes do not find humans to be suitable hosts and will not live longer than 7-10 days in human digestive tracts.

Swallowing live tapeworm larvae can cause a tapeworm infestation. The tapeworms may live in the human intestinal tract for several years. Symptoms can include abdominal pain, weakness, weight loss and anemia. Doctors successfully treat tapeworm infections with medicines.

Canada's Health Protection Branch recommends using only commercially frozen fish in raw fish dishes because home freezers will not kill the parasites. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends using fish frozen commercially for 7 days at -10°F or 15 hours at -31°F for raw fish dishes.

http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/pubs/parasite.htm