For those who are curious: Hover your mouse over the link. The address reveals more clues about what you'll find, and may sate your curiosity just enough to save you from clicking through.

@1: I've learned always to hover over the URL first when someone says, "I Warned You!"

Why would you buy salmon in Texas?

Why would you buy BBQ in Seattle?

Five to one that was farmed salmon.

Good people eat farmed salmon, and informed people eat farmed salmon, but good, informed people do not eat farmed salmon. Nor, as should be apparent, do people who are concerned about their own food safety.

I mean, maybe that was just a particularly rancid piece of wild-caught, but in Texas? At the grocery store? Not likely.

I previewed the link and went "Eeeewwww!" Then clicked it and read the article and went "Eeeeeeeewwwwwwwww!!!!"

Supermarket grade fish != sushi grade fish. Ugh.

We saw Cienna's coffee mug, pre-poll. We're immune to being grossed out.

Meh. Fresh wild-caught salmon can have pinworms, too. You are probably eating them every time you eat salmon, but they've been killed through freezing or cooking, which causes the worms to break down and "disappear" into the meat.

(@7: +1. I wonder if they got sick because they knew what they had eaten, or whether the meat was bad, too.)

Don't even ask about cod or halibut, which are much more long-lived fish, and therefore have much more time to gather parasites. With them, there's no "can" about it.

I cleaned a lot of wild-caught salmon, halibut and cod, and I've gone through long periods of abstention from fish afterwards.

I assume the Atlantic salmon I get here in New York are farmed. But "farmed" salmon are not farmed in the same way that say, tilapia are farmed. They do spend most of their lives at sea, unpenned, and most of the food they eat over their lifetimes are things they found in the ocean themselves.

That said, I would never buy any salmon in a grocery store, unless it was smoked. The supply chain of a supermarket is loooong. The couple of times I've bought fish in a grocery store, I not only was motivated to toss it out as soon as the plastic wrap on the styro tray was breached, but the stuff made your eyes run.

Now, we come to the issue of sushi... You cannot prepare raw fish unless you know what the hell you are doing. Some fish are more prone to carrying parasites than others, and some parasites are more dangerous to humans than others. One of the reasons sushi is traditionally sliced thin is to allow the chef to look closely at it and make sure it's free of parasites. Sounds like nobody in that family did that. Moreover, we now know that freezing fish and holding it at a certain temperature for a certain time will kill all the wrigglies and their eggs. You either have to plan ahead to do this, or buy your fish from someone who does this for you.

So, three issues: farming, supermarkets, and sushi prep... Which was the biggest factor in this fiasco? I'm afraid we have to blame the consumers to a large degree.

This doesn't gross me out too much because I'd never eat sushi anyway.

Worms are protein too.

I like that they managed to nearly finish that entire plate of fish before actually taking the time to LOOK at it.

Meh, nothing that a little deworming agent like levamisole won't take care of! They just need to get a hold of some cocaine!

Cool!! It's like a special surprise in every piece of sushi! I'M sold!!!

@10,

Uh, what?

From the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch:

Most salmon are farmed in open pens and cages in coastal waters. Waste from these farms is released directly into the ocean. Parasites and diseases from farmed salmon can spread to wild fish swimming near the farms and escaping farmed salmon can harm wild populations.

At least on the West Coast, farmed salmon has to be labeled as being artificially colored, because the food they're given is not remotely what they get in the wild, and the result is gray meat. Salmon farmers supplement their diet with additives that color their flesh pink.

Meh. One can't avoid ingesting all manner of unsavory animal bits. Just a small matter of degree.

You should NEVER eat salmon raw (or any less than cooked all the way through) unless it's sashimi-grade (see @7). Usually, "sashimi-grade" or "sushi-grade" means the fish has been flash-frozen at a very cold temperature to destroy parasites.

Salmon, whether wild or farmed, is notorious for carrying parasites, which can be dangerous even if they're not as visible as the ones described here. Eating non-sashimi-grade salmon raw is asking to get sick.

My Japanese-novelty-toy-food is gross! I want you to provide me with Japanese-novelty-toy-food that is completely sterilized and westernized... You know, the way Japanese-novelty-toy-food is supposed to be.

Since I will never be able to un-see whatever it is, I decided I am not that curious.

wow, amazing what people consider beyond disgusting.

i would define beyond disgusting as balut. i will never look at chicken eggs the same way again.

http://www.sfist.com/attachments/sfist_j…