If heat kills food germs, why is it normal for Japanese to eat raw food?

Question

If heat kills food germs, why is it normal for Japanese to eat raw food?

In: 11

Answer 1

For most raw food around the globe, they’re treated with processes that help kill parasites, such as curing with vinegar.

For sushi however, they’re supposed to be flash frozen right after being caught at industrial temperatures around -40 degrees in order to fully kill parasites (you can look up the required temp and time from the FDA). At this point the fish can be consumed without any other processes.

bonus fact: Before the flash freezing process was invented however, the japanese believed that wasabi made the raw fish safe for consumption. Contrary to popular belief around the world,, eating raw sushi with wasabi doesn’t do anything in terms of food safety, but is rather kept as a tradition because they really liked the taste combination of it.