Cod worms

[sturmik]

I have quick question for you lads. What you are doing when the fish have cod worms- are you still eating this? In this year I bought 4 nice pieces of cod from my local fish store ( every time by one piece) and they had always cod worms inside. Few fish which I caught had those worms as well. It was always landing straight to the bin. I know that cooking should kill them, freezing as well, but how you can trust if worms are dead or you found them all?
Do you have any good method to spot them? My young lads love eating fishes and the last what I need is some parasite in their stomach.
I remember when I took fish from the freezer after over half year it being caught and the cod worms (or sth similar to them) were still alive and in good condition....

[Tommy B]

Interesting! No way would I eat fish with cod worms and I wouldn't fish for them either to eat. It sounds very dangerous to me.....

[blowin]

Sure they are a horrible sight but are totally harmless to humans . They cannot survive in your stomach .
In my experience they don't live in the flesh altho they will migrate through it soon after the fish has been killed . They are normally found in the gut ( and obviously disposed of ) , or just under the skin . You should see them easily enough if you remove the skin from fillets .
I believe the commercial boys detect them by "candling" ie look at the fillet with a strong light behind it . Haven't tried this myself . I imagine you would need something brighter than your normal 60 / 100 watt lightbulb . HTH .

[MarkoC]

Maybe worth to read

http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5951e/x5951e01.htm

[Donnyboy1]

When you catch a fish it is almost 100% likely to have parasites in its gut... mackeral also as well as bass, cod, pollock etc.

Bass cod and pollock all suffer from the 'cod' worm.... its actually more prevelant where there are seal colonies.

When You kill a fish the immediately afterwards the cod worm start burrowing for the warmth of the fatty layers around the belly, after this they may head from the flesh but usually stay at the fatty layers. same for bass.

The real trick is to gut as soon as possibe after catching, within minutes. In a trawl it may be several hours before a fish is gutted, if even and by the time you buy your fillets from tescos's on the ice the meat could be as much as 10 days old (defrosted). In that time the cod worm has plenty of time to mobilise....

Yet another reason to avoid store fish as much as possible and catch for your table...

There is a particular style fillet you can do for the cod which leaves the meat around the stomach intact... its on youtube... I fillet cod quickly without gutting using this method and I never get cod worm.

For bass and pollock I use a normal fillet technique and investigate for worms every thime... they can be removed easily enough before cooking. If you skin your fillet hold it up to the light to see any dark parches, raw fish flesh should be translucent.

If I plan to make sushi or smoke fish I will make sure it has been frozen for at least 2 weeks. There are also ways to freeze fish so that it is as good if not better than fresh...

[Tommy B]

I heard they where found more in juvenile fish and symptoms can occur years later...

[Donnyboy1]

Depends on the parasite... cod worm or round worm develop in seals intestines and are deposited though their sh!t as larvae. Small scavangers like shrimp eat these and the worm begins to develop as it adapts to tis host. Then the cod, bass or pollock etc eats the shrimp and the worm fully develops in the gut.

And then of course the seal eats the fish with the parasite and the whole cycle starts again with larvae being removed from the seal.

I actually see less on juveniles but really I think it depends on the location rather than the age.
In west cork the fish have way more parasites (and seals actually) and east of Powerhead in Cork there are more seals and also most parasites per fish. West of power head there are less seals and less occurances of parasites.

FWIW.

[Donnyboy1]

ps... go to your favourite chipper and get battered cod and chips... if you investigate the fish I bet you will find several

Ignorance is bliss and frankly the worms are just another source of protein

mmmmm, battered worms and chips

[dave316]

Most times I get a large haul of cod, I fillet them all then pick out the worms with tweezers.

[mickser]

I have been following the posts on this subject and it makes me sick now thinking of giving up fishing for good unless someone tells me the benefits of eating fish ?

[snakewhite]

Your thinking of giving up fishing cause a few harmless worms in fish. If your really that concerned just go out for the sport, you dont need to eat all that you catch.

[shorething]

As Donnyboy said ignorance is bliss. If you knew what happens to all the food we eat or how its treated before it hits our dinner table there'd be know fears over obesity
still have fears have a look at this http://newsweaver.ie/fsai/e_article0012 ... ?x=b11,0,w

[cathalger]

I think virtually all cod and maybe all pollack have worms, I wasnt aware that the worms migrated from the gut to the flesh after death. Til now I thought there were worms that lived in the muscle and others that lived in the gut. When filleting fish the worms can easily be seen in the fillets, in the flesh. I had heard as Donny says, that the worms require the fish and seals for their life cycle, I thought the fish directly ate the seal sht and acquired them that way, but it seems there is another link in the chain as Donny describes.

I do just as Dave does, I pick out the ones I can see near the surface of the fillet and if a few are missed deeper in the flesh I cook the flesh and eat the works. They tend to be curled up in a wee ball and a toothpick will hoke them out no bother. If you think about it, the chip shop industry has been feeding the general public gazillions of cod fillets containing worms for donkeys ages and there is no problem or any requirement by law to state their fish is completely worm free? Unless I am badly mistaken.

As far as I know the worms cant do humans the slightest bit of harm. Munch away. Is there a single fish species in our waters that doesnt have parasitic worms? I doubt it?

Think I might start gutting the fish as soon as it is dead as advised above, if it reduces the worm no.s in the meat then its only common sense to do it. Cheers for that.

[Donnyboy1]

Leglistlation states a maximum number of worms per cubic inch, think its like 3 or something and then it can be sold. Any more and it cannot be sold. But seriously think about how fish is trawled.... there are WAAAAAAAAy more parasites in a fishmonger fillet and even more in tescos than one you would catch yourself... this should encourage you to catch more (if you buy from the stores) even things like fish fingers have them....

What I do is I don't even gut the cod and fillet them fast like this and do not touch the belly flaps. I rarely see worms even if I waste a little meat.... but it all goes into my fish compost for the veggie patch so no 'real' waste

Give it a lash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9C07Q3Vt_M

[Donnyboy1]

Couldn't resist

Avoid fishmongers...catch your own

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTJkdog-UKc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILwxkfthPs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOzaRM8OqyQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDtlnuXGLyM

[tinto]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm worms.............

[cathalger]

Good vid of the cod and mackerel filleting Donny. I tended not to bother gutting fish that were going to be filleted, but just how quickly do the worms move from the gut to the flesh?

I suppose the only thing to do really is fillet the fish straight away as you say but maybe not always easy if your out in the boat and you start to get a few, you might want to keep lines in the water if you run into some fish and do the filleting when the fishing dies off again.

What I did notice about your mans technique was how he didnt waste any time fiddling and trying to save the belly flesh where the ribcage is, I always find myself footering with that and trying to save as much of it as possible but its so thin its hardly worth the effort, I think Id still find it hard not to try to get it off on the fillet. It seems when you fillet a cod about a third of the fish or even less is really all that is kept, all that is edible. I like to cook smaller fish on the bone because there just isnt any fish to waste and you get it all that way,

good video, cheers.

[Caz-Galway]

Hi Lads,
Interesting thread. Fish worms or nematodes occur in most fish species. I have personally seen them in all Gadoid fish plus mackeral, salmon and Gurnard. They are harmless as long as the fish is cooked right. There was a major problem in Germany a number of years ago with worms in Roll-Mops (pickled herring). Some people got infected as the pickeling did not kill the nematodes. They can get into the human brain and cause serious problems.

The nematode level is more acute on the north and west coast than on the east and south coast. This is due to the number of seals in these areas as the seal is the intermediate host. I know of one fishmonger who buys no Cod from the west coast due to the level of infestation.

Cook it well and theres no problem.

Caz

[chuckaroo]

Sure they are a horrible sight but are totally harmless to humans

I do just as Dave does, I pick out the ones I can see near the surface of the fillet and if a few are missed deeper in the flesh I cook the flesh and eat the works. They tend to be curled up in a wee ball and a toothpick will hoke them out no bother.

If you think about it, the chip shop industry has been feeding the general public gazillions of cod fillets containing worms for donkeys ages and there is no problem. As far as I know the worms cant do humans the slightest bit of harm. Munch away.

these few comments sum it up for me..
FWIW

[cathalger]

Donnyboy1 wrote: (Sorry, I'll get the quoting selected sentences mastered yet!!!)

"What I do is I don't even gut the cod and fillet them fast like this and do not touch the belly flaps."

Just thinking about what I had said above re painstakingly trying to save the belly flap flesh by filleting it from the ribcage and how the Scottish man in the youtube video didnt do that, the belly flaps may be the place most likely to get worms coming from the gut after death, the flesh is so scarce there its hardly worth the bother,

BUT, maybe the best reason to sacrifice that part of the fish and just leave it on the carcass is because if you inadvertently burst through to the gut cavity and manage to burst stomach ot intestine, as I have done before, the juices that can then run out and onto the nice clean white flesh you are trying to save for the table can be so absolutely putrid (especially with cod), the fish can be ruined for eating.

Ive ruined cod fillets before by getting them tainted with stomach juices, the fish isnt nice to eat at all, anyone who eats 'Donegal Catch' breaded cod may have tasted a very very occasional less than pleasant, strongly tainted piece of fish and I think thats maybe what has happened. Hope I havent openned a can of worms by mentioning that? I think DC produce is first class stuff 99% of the time. My Ma has been getting it since it came on the market, still does.

Aye if the stomach juice gets on the white flesh it is generally destroyed for the table, tastes disgusting so the belly flaps can go to the cat or compost as Donny says.