What is Sushi and is it Safe to Eat?

Sushi is a Japanese cuisine that consists of Shari (cooked rice with vinegar) and Neta (other ingredients). The most common form of Neta in Sushi is raw seafood. Sushi is not to be confused with Sashimi, which is raw meat sliced without the vinegared rice (Shari).  In the last few years Sushi has become one of the most desired foods in many places outside of Japan.  With sushi restaurants opening up on every corner, it can be tempting to go in and try it if it’s not already part of a person’s regular food choices.  It may even already be something eaten all the time, but should it be?  Because a major ingredient in sushi is raw fish there are some possible health concerns that need to be considered before ingesting it.

If prepared right, sushi or sashimi are fairly safe to eat. The first thing to consider is whether or not the fish that’s being used has been prepared properly or not.  The FDA has said that fish used in sushi needs to be frozen for 15 hours at -31 degrees Fahrenheit or -4 degrees Fahrenheit for  at least 7 days.  Fish, when not prepared properly in any given instance, can be extremely dangerous to eat.  The reason for cooking most food thoroughly and to a certain temperature is to ensure harmful bacteria and parasites are killed, making the food safe to eat.  This is the same reason fish needs to be frozen according to FDA guidelines.

Fish born bacteria and parasites can be extremely harmful to human beings, and a good way to ingest these is through sushi that has not been properly prepared.  In addition, fish can carry Hepatitis A.  While rare, it can be present and the freezing techniques or the cooking techniques are imperative to ensure safety because these processes can kill the virus in meat used for sushi.  The best way to ensure that the proper procedures are being followed at a favored sushi restaurant is to ask what their handling procedures are for the fish they use in their dishes.  If something doesn’t jive quite with the proper standards for handling the raw fish, or if there’s a lack of cleanliness in the restaurant, it may be better to pick a different place to get one’s sushi.

The second important thing that needs to be taken into consideration when eating sushi is the fact that many of the species used in sushi are quite high in mercury levels.  For instance, one of the most commonly seen fish in sushi is Ahi tuna, a species of yellow fin tuna.  Ahi tuna is one of the species that notoriously has one of the highest mercury levels in it.  Another commonly used species in sushi is salmon (often seen as "Sake" on menus as an ingredient in a sushi roll).

A person who has a healthy immune system and isn’t pregnant can probably get away with eating sushi made with Ahi tuna once or twice a week without issue.  It is recommended that fish high in mercury contamination shouldn’t be ingested more often than this.  A person who already has a compromised immune system, or a person who is pregnant, should avoid eating fish high in mercury as much as possible.  If it’s eaten once a week, then it should be avoided for the following two or three weeks to ensure the body has time to deal with the mercury.

Mercury is around us in the environment naturally and from environmental contaminants, and depending on where a person lives, they could be dealing with more without introducing any mercury via diet.  The bottom line when it comes to whether or not sushi is safe is that it depends.  As long as the restaurant prepares it correctly or a person does it correctly at home, and a person doesn’t overdo it on the amount they’re eating, then sushi can be perfectly safe to eat.