Are there parasites in conchs?

Conch is a very common seafood. With the current pollution and bad environment, there will be more or less some parasites in it. So you need to be careful when eating conch. It is not recommended to eat conch raw, unless you can ensure that the local water quality is completely fine and it is clean within the range you can see. In this case, it can be eaten raw. Some conch still needs to be processed according to the actual situation before eating.

Do snails have parasites?

Conch is a seafood product. Due to the severe environmental pollution, it usually contains parasites to some extent, so you must be careful when eating it.

Can conch be eaten raw?

It can be eaten raw, but it is not recommended because conchs contain parasites. It is safer to cook or steam them.

How to choose conch

1. Smell

Generally, when purchasing seafood products, you need to pay attention to whether it is dead or alive. If it is dead and not fresh, you cannot eat it. You can also smell it to see if there is any peculiar smell. If there is no peculiar smell, it means it is very fresh. You can also touch the shell of the conch with your hand to determine whether it is dead or alive.

2. Size and color

The size of the conch is related to its price, but also to its color. There are many types of conchs. Generally, conchs are large and have thick shells. The surface of the shell is uneven with neatly arranged ribs and fine grooves. It is gray-brown or gray-yellow in color. Be careful to distinguish them when purchasing to avoid buying the wrong ones.

3. Stir-fry with sauce

Conch is delicious whether stir-fried, steamed or made into soup. Large conchs usually have thick meat and taste better when stir-fried, while small conchs have less meat and taste better when stir-fried with sauce. In addition, it takes about 10-15 minutes to steam edible conchs in order to kill the parasites and bacteria in the conchs, making them safe for consumption.

At the same time, although conch meat is suitable for everyone, it has a cold nature and is not suitable for pregnant women and people with cold stomach or cold constitution.

River snails are the intermediate hosts of many parasites, such as Fasciola japonica, Schizontidae, Paragonimus and many others. In addition, the life history of roundworms has nothing to do with conchs. People are infected with roundworms mainly because they eat rice and pork.

Snails usually grow in ponds. If the water quality is poor, they are easily contaminated, especially if the feces inside the snail are not discharged cleanly when eaten. There are many parasites, such as Oncomelania snails, which are hosts of schistosomiasis.

Therefore, when eating snails, it is best to buy river snails or field snails. Eat less snails from the pond. After buying them, put the snails in a bucket with clean water and raise them for a few days. Change the water once a day to allow the snails to excrete. When cooking snails, make sure they are cooked thoroughly to kill the parasites. It is best not to eat grilled conch, because if it is not cooked thoroughly, it is easy to be infected with liver fluke disease.