Bullfrog is a food safety disaster area. Can't eat it? Remember these four points and eat it with peace of mind!

Author: Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center

Reviewer: Zhang Yu, researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, supervisor of doctoral and master's degree candidates

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In recent years, bullfrogs with their tender meat have become a popular delicacy on the dining table.
Fried bullfrog in a fragrant pot, grilled bullfrog, fried bullfrog, cream bullfrog, French garlic bullfrog...the various ways of eating that combine Chinese and Western styles attract diners.
However, there are claims online that bullfrogs are a serious food safety concern and should not be eaten. Is this really the case?

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Bullfrog drug content exceeds standard?

Some people say that in recent years, they often see news on the Internet about excessive drug residues in bullfrogs. What's going on?

Bullfrogs can also get sick, and most wild bullfrogs die if no one takes care of them. But farmers still hope to make money from artificially bred bullfrogs, so they need to be treated when they get sick. Therefore, some drugs are indeed used in the bullfrog breeding process. In addition, there are also cases where banned drugs are artificially added to aquatic products during processing, packaging, storage, transportation, and sales. Because aquatic products are prone to descaling and abrasions during transportation and storage, if the water environment is not clean, Saprolegniasis is likely to occur, affecting the survival rate. Therefore, some vendors will also use some drugs in the storage pools for transporting animals to prevent and treat diseases. If someone uses drugs illegally in these links, it will cause the bullfrogs to exceed the drug standard.

In addition, pollution of the breeding environment may also lead to the detection of veterinary drug and pesticide residues. For example, some farmers used drugs to disinfect the ponds, and then continued to breed other animals without fully cleaning and purifying the ponds, which may lead to the accumulation of veterinary drugs.

Photo by: Ruan Guangfeng

However, the content of veterinary drugs in bullfrogs raised in a regular manner is usually very low. And most people only eat bullfrogs occasionally, so there is generally no need to worry about harm to the human body.

Food safety is not zero risk. It is impossible to avoid the presence of various known and unknown hazardous substances in the environment. Currently, the world uses food safety supervision systems to control possible risks to an acceptable safety level to ensure people's safety. It is recommended that you eat in regular restaurants because the food safety supervision of regular restaurants is usually better.

Some people may say that bullfrogs contain excessive amounts of drugs, so isn’t it better to eat less?

In fact, from the perspective of dietary balance, the advice to eat less is a universal advice.

The basic principle of a healthy diet recommended by the dietary guidelines is to eat a variety of foods, eat all kinds of foods, but not too much of any one food. Ensuring food diversity and eating all kinds of foods can, on the one hand, prevent us from eating only one kind of food and causing excessive intake of possible harmful substances, thus reducing the risk; on the other hand, it can also help us take in more balanced nutrition and promote physical health.

my country's dietary pyramid recommends that we eat 120-200 grams of animal food every day and eat aquatic products twice a week. Among them, the recommended daily intake of livestock and poultry meat is 40-75 grams, and common aquatic products include fish, shrimp, crab and shellfish, and the recommended daily intake is 40-75 grams.

Can I get infected with parasites by eating bullfrogs?

It is said that the number of parasites carried by bullfrogs may be beyond your imagination.

Some bullfrogs do carry parasites. For example, wild bullfrogs often have Spirometra mansoni. The larvae of this worm can parasitize humans and constantly migrate, invading the eyes, face, internal organs and even the brain. They can form lumps and nodules under the skin or muscles, and cause severe headaches, conjunctival hemorrhage, bulging eyes, epilepsy, abdominal pain and other symptoms, and even cause blindness and endanger life.

Moreover, sparganum can remain dormant in the body for many years, sometimes not being discovered until several years later. If you happen to accidentally eat wild bullfrogs that are not thoroughly cooked, you may be infected with the parasite.

Image source: Wikipedia, Photo by: Carl D. Howe

Therefore, eating bullfrogs to get infected with parasites usually requires two conditions to be met: wild bullfrogs and not cooked.

Now the bullfrogs we eat in regular restaurants are generally farmed, which is much safer than wild bullfrogs. When eating bullfrogs, whether it is grilled bullfrogs, boiled bullfrogs, dry pot bullfrogs or bullfrog hot pot, pay attention to fully heating and cooking, then you don't have to worry about parasites.

Are bullfrogs an invasive species?

Bullfrogs are indeed an invasive species and are classified as a Class II severely invasive species.

However, the main harm of invasive species is that they will damage the ecological environment, and they may not necessarily cause harm to human health.

Moreover, due to the tender meat of bullfrogs, humans have been studying its breeding technology. With the advancement of technology, bullfrogs are now being farmed on a large scale and have become a delicacy on people's tables. Relevant data shows that the annual output of bullfrog farming in China exceeds 300,000 tons. It would be a pity not to eat so many bullfrogs after working so hard to raise them.

Oh, by the way, when crayfish first entered my country, they were also an invasive species. The hairy crabs we like to eat are also considered invasive species abroad, and foreigners don’t like to eat them.

How to eat bullfrog safely?

If you want to enjoy eating bullfrog, please note:

1. Don’t eat wild bullfrogs, and don’t catch them yourself.

Be especially careful not to catch bullfrogs with wounds on your hands. If you really want to catch them, wear gloves to prevent your hands from getting cut, because the parasite sparganum can enter the body through the skin and migrate to the eyes, subcutaneous tissue, or organs such as the brain, kidneys, and lungs, causing serious symptoms. If you want to cook bullfrogs at home, it is recommended to buy artificially farmed bullfrogs instead of wild bullfrogs in regular supermarkets or markets.

2. Pay attention to standardized operations and keep raw and cooked food separate.

When cooking bullfrogs and other seafood at home, you must pay attention to standardized operations, separate raw and cooked food, and prevent cross contamination. For example, make sure the knife and cutting board for cutting bullfrogs are separate from other items, and use a separate basin to wash the bullfrogs.

3. Cook until it is fully cooked before eating.

Heating thoroughly is the most effective way to kill parasites. When eating bullfrogs and other aquatic products outside, many people choose to eat them raw for the sake of deliciousness, but the risk of parasite infection is very high. They must be thoroughly cooked at high temperature before eating. In addition to bullfrogs, freshwater fish and shrimps such as sashimi (freshwater sashimi), snakes, and golden apple snails may also carry parasites. To prevent parasitic infection, remember to fully heat and cook them before eating. Do not eat any freshwater fish and shrimps that have not been heated thoroughly. The risk of parasites in freshwater aquatic products is much greater, so never eat freshwater aquatic products raw.

4. Vinegar, soy sauce, wasabi sauce, white wine, etc. cannot completely kill possible parasites.

Don't think you can eat it raw after soaking it in these sauces.

Photo by: Zhang Linlin

5. Eat in moderation

my country's dietary pyramid recommends that we eat 120-200 grams of animal food every day and eat aquatic products twice a week. Among them, the recommended daily intake of livestock and poultry meat is 40-75 grams, and common aquatic products include fish, shrimp, crab and shellfish, and the recommended daily intake is 40-75 grams.

This article is a work of Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project

Produced by: Science Popularization Department of China Association for Science and Technology

Producer｜China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.

Planning丨Fu Sijia

Editor: Fu Sijia