• Question: Do parasites inhabit food?

    Asked by Slenneri to Claire, Franco, Koi, Linda, Mark on 20 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      @Sienneri Yes, to some extent. Intestinal parasites such as worms or smaller parasites such as amoebae will produce eggs, or similar structures called cysts, which will be released into the environment when the animal infected with them poos.When animal faeces are used to fertilise vegetables, the parasites can then be found on vegetables such as salads, etc.

      This is not to say that vegetables are bad and that you shouldn’t eat them, but it is always good to wash your salad before eating it!

    • Photo: Mark Booth

      Mark Booth answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Hi Sienneri

      Parasite are part of the global food chain. so the simple answer is yes. when a cat eats a mouse that has been infected by Toxoplasma, the parasite is in the cat’s food. If animals we eat have parasites such as trichinella or tapeworm cysts then yes we also eat the parasites.

    • Photo: Claire Bourke

      Claire Bourke answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Yes they can and, as Franco says, they can do so in many forms. In addition to worms that create structures called cysts inside meat and parasite larva and eggs that live in poo; parasites can also hitchhike into our bodies in contaminated water, on unwashed food or on food washed with contaminated water. For this reason, one of the best ways to reduce parasite infections transmitted on food and in water is to develop good hygiene and sanitation practices to reduce contamination and educate people about how to prepare food safely.

      Unfortunately there are lots of parts of the world, particularly those affected by poverty, where hygiene and sanitation are easier said than done because there are not toilets, running water or separate areas for washing and preparing food. Improving sanitation and hygiene and reducing poverty are an important part of reducing parasitic infections.

    • Photo: Arporn Wangwiwatsin

      Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Hi Sienneri,

      I’d say yes they do. And there are many situations where this can happen. in most cases I can think of, the parasites live in an individual animal and then that animal became our food. Usually, these are parasites that need to get eaten by another animal to continue their life cycle. Some examples of these are:
      – Pork tapeworm (Taenia solium) and beef tapeworm (Taenia saginata), they infect pig and cow when the animals eat eggs that were on their grazing patch, then the parasites develop and eventually form cyst inside muscles of these animals… which can later become our food. If meat are eaten undercooked and if they contain the parasites, then the parasites grouw up in our intestine and release eggs with our stool. HOWEVER! meat in the UK, as long as it come from trusted sources, would have been checked and inspected by specialists before the meat hit markets and so they are unlikely to have these parasites … but I would still eat them cooked…
      – Another example is a kind of parasites from the South East Asia (Opisthorchis viverrini – also worms but much smaller than tapeworm). They form cyst in muscle of (a freshwater) fish, and then the fish can become food…if you will ever go travel in South East Asia and are to eat freshwater fish, make sure they are well-cooked 😉

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