What’s the word on children eating raw fish? Is it safe? I know some kinds like shark, marlin and swordfish have higher levels of mercury in them. One of my friend’s 6-year-old daughter loves it and eats a ton, but my wife is afraid to let them eat it.
raw or cooked, the mercury content is pretty much the same. and many other toxins and poisons in your fish. cadmium, lead, arsenic, thallium, antimony, etc. just for metals, and then there’s all the dioxins, PCBs, pesticides, growth hormones, plasticizers, to worry about as well. All fish have some of it, but the amounbts are greatly concentrated in the predatory fish like the ones youu mention. As well as these fish, the other main predators on the market are tuna, salmon, mackerel, bonito, and so on. Mind you, not many people make sashimi out of marlin or swordfish. Carp and trout and other smaller fish are not as much of a problem.
with any kind of raw fish it is going to be more difficult to control the bacteria on it… Salmonella, Listeria, Botulinus, etc. are all happy living on your fish steak. or then there’s the Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus or Klebsiella that’s transferred itself from the chef’s hands to your fish via his knife. Or from the lovely clean fish market table.
Cooking will get rid of the bacteria.
the same goes for sushi as for sashimi.
[quote=“urodacus”]
with any kind of raw fish it is going to be more difficult to control the bacteria on it… Salmonella, Listeria, Botulinus, etc. are all happy living on your fish steak. or then there’s the Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus or Klebsiella that’s transferred itself from the chef’s hands to your fish via his knife. Or from the lovely clean fish market table.
Cooking will get rid of the bacteria.
.[/quote]
i always have to stifle a laugh when taiwanese people say dipping it in the wasabi will take care of that 
[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“urodacus”]
with any kind of raw fish it is going to be more difficult to control the bacteria on it… Salmonella, Listeria, Botulinus, etc. are all happy living on your fish steak. or then there’s the Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus or Klebsiella that’s transferred itself from the chef’s hands to your fish via his knife. Or from the lovely clean fish market table.
Cooking will get rid of the bacteria.
.[/quote]
I always have to stifle a laugh when Taiwanese people say dipping it in the wasabi will take care of that [/quote]
Is it as rediculous as drinking while eating sashimi would help killing the bacteria? I’ve always wondered how much truth is in this statement.
Of course, children can’t drink, so is it safe to assume that sashimi/sushi are not suitable for children?
If you also have a good mouthful of high-proof spirit each time you pop a piece of fish in to your mouth, the alcohol may kill the bacteria.
You’d get pretty damn drunk tho.
Sushi and sashimi for kids are reasonably safe in small amounts from a clean chef, freshly made. But that shiz gets expensive, and the kids would probably prefer Fish Fingers from I&J anyway. The problem with kids and heavy metals is twofold. One, they are smaller and thus the concentration in a child of any ingested amount of metal is going to be higher, and two, their brain is not yet developed enough and is more sensitive to the deleterious effects of those metals, even in smaller amounts.
parasites, that’s what deters me from giving my kids anything raw.
Most of parents won’t let their children have the sashimi
Because if they are not clean enough.
It causes diarrhea easily.
The wasabi is too acrid to kids.
My kid [i]loves[/i] wasabi. He says it tickles his nose.