The main risks of eating raw pickled seafood are: parasitic infection, bacterial infection, and viral infection.
Raw pickled seafood is made by marinating fish, shrimp, crab and other seafood or river fresh food with wine, ginger, garlic and other seasonings, and then refrigeration or freezing. Although delicious, there are still many risks.
①Infection with parasites. Seafood can carry a large number of parasites, such as Anisakis, liver flukes, etc. The white wine used to marinate raw seafood cannot kill these parasites, and some eggs will still survive even after marinating for 24 hours. Regular consumption of raw pickled seafood can lead to parasitic diseases. These parasites will lurk in our stomach, liver, lungs and even brain, posing a threat to our health, ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening.
CCTV once reported that experimenters detected metacercariae of the parasite in a drunken shrimp randomly purchased by a reporter. Metacercariae are the larvae of flukes. After entering the human body, they will be adsorbed on the intestinal wall. When they grow up, they will remain in the body and even invade the organs, which will seriously affect our health.
②Bacterial infection. The most common bacterial infection is infection caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Vibrio parahaemolyticus can multiply rapidly in an environment with a salt content of 3%, so it can easily contaminate seawater fish and shrimp and can produce heat-resistant hemolytic toxins. If you eat seafood contaminated by this bacteria, it will cause food poisoning. There is also a bacteria with a high fatality rate called "Vibrio vulnificus", which mainly parasitizes seafood such as shrimps, crabs, and oysters. Once infected, it will cause acute necrotizing fasciitis of the limbs, plus acute gastroenteritis. If septic shock develops within 48 hours, it can be life-threatening, with a mortality rate of 50%.
The Xiaoxiang Morning News once reported that a 58-year-old uncle from Zhejiang was infected with Vibrio vulnificus after eating a raw pickled crab and was sent to the ICU. Fortunately, after timely treatment, the uncle saved his life.
③Viral infection. Many seafoods are transmitters of viruses. Eating raw pickled seafood may lead to infection with gastroenteritis viruses, hepatitis viruses and other disease viruses. For example: norovirus, hepatitis A virus, etc.
In 1988, a hepatitis A epidemic hit 300,000 people in Shanghai. It was caused by people being infected with the hepatitis A virus after eating hairy clams carrying the hepatitis A virus.
The reason why pickled food is so popular has a lot to do with the rise of video media in today's society. The rise of various short video platforms and the emergence of various food broadcasts have given food more room for development. At the same time, in order to win more eyeballs and get more traffic, anchors are constantly trying various new ways to eat food, which makes raw pickled food shine.
Although good food is rare, our health is more important. In view of these risks of raw pickled seafood, I still recommend that everyone eat less, and it is best not to eat raw pickled seafood. If you want to eat seafood, you can steam it before eating it. Especially people with poor immunity should not blindly try raw pickled seafood.
The above are all my answers, I hope they are helpful to everyone.