Crawfish (Mini Lobsters) – To eat or not to eat?
May 2nd 2008 06:16
Recently I have been receiving some disturbing forwarding emails about how health hazarding it is on most of our (especially Chinese community) latest cuisine – Crawfish a.k.a. Mini Lobster.
I used to be the one who would read, and forward as health issues are really in the brink of disaster if you are looking into our environment these days. But then again, it is good to validate the email’s content before forwarding / sharing to others you care.
And, to many others (average folks) out there, they might not even know what crawfish is, what’s it’s habitat and where it can be farmed. Some take it as a new delicacy dish and gobble them up, as usual.
So lets read this particular email and then we shall proceed to check more about crawfish a.k.a. mini lobsters:
Mini lobster - Avoid this at all cost
Please be alerted to this food item...
It may infect your lungs.
Do not eat these mini lobsters.
These Mini crustaceans are literally the garbage cleaners in the sewage treatment plants.
The 'dirtier' the water, the fatter these mini lobsters become.
Their lungs are full of worms and their flesh saturated with poisonous metals.
Unscrupulous merchants somehow found a way to get these marketed to eateries.
Do not order this dish.
Pass this on to those friends who may want to try these mini 'lobsters'.
Now let’s look into the definition of these mini lobsters (Crawfish / Crayfish)
Crayfish, often referred to as crawfish, or crawdads, are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are closely related. They breathe through gills and are found in bodies of water that do not freeze to the bottom; they are also mostly found in brooks and streams where there is fresh water running, and which have shelter against predators. Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water, although some species such as the invasive Procambarus clarkii are hardier. Some crayfish have been found living as much as 3 m (10 feet) underground. (Wikipedia)
Another site I have found is that crawfish (some of the types) are actually made as pets and not to be consumed, however, let’s take a look what they say about what they eat:
Crayfish eat the plants and the fish (if they can get a hold of them).
Crayfish will eat just about anything. (The Crayfish FAQ)
Yahoo! Answers (answered by a Yahoo! Member) also stated that Crawfish eat anything that dies and falls to the bottom of the water. They also will eat fish and bugs unlucky enough to be caught by them but they will not put a lot of effort into hunting. In an aquarium they can eat fish food if it sinks to the bottom but they will pick at your fish too. If they weaken one by repeatedly picking at it they will be able to capture and eat it.
Crawfish Farms
Their culture dates back to the late 1700s when they were reared as gourmet items. They are native in freshwater of all continents except Africa and have been introduced there. Crawfish vary in size at maturity from the dwarf crawfish, less than 1 inch in length, to a Tasmanian species, which reaches weights of over 8 pounds. Colors vary from a light cream color through yellow, blue, red and green to black.
In the early 1930s, Percy Viosca published recommendations for raising crawfish in ponds in Louisiana. Since that time, interest in culturing crawfish has increased steadily and over 131,000 acres of ponds were reported in the United States in 1990. Total harvest figures are difficult to obtain, but it is estimated that in the United States harvest exceeds 100 million pounds per year.
Most of the crawfish consumed in the United States is from Louisiana, although other states have begun to culture crawfish in the past 10 years. From Maryland to Texas to Oregon, crawfish are considered a delicacy, and the demand for "Cajun" dishes featuring crawfish is growing steadily. The market for crawfish in Europe has become accustomed to crawfish grown in the United States and exports are increasing steadily. Crawfish production for food will probably double within the next ten years.
The crawfish industry is becoming more specialized. Traditionally, most crawfish were cooked and eaten near production locations. Recently, more and more crawfish have been processed--the tail meat frozen and shipped to other locations. This trend is expected to continue. In addition, products such as microwave ready dishes, precooked and specialty dishes are being developed. These will mean more crawfish available to more people and an expanding market. (Aquanic.org)
Therefore it is technically correct that kind of a “garbage cleaner”, for certain species, yet whether they are “farmed” from the sewage treatment plants is a question as Wikipedia already stated that they can’t really tolerate polluted waters. Unless they are “mutated” over generations – this could happen.
There goes for the information about our dear juicy little fellows…
Come to the sickness that it can cause. Paragonimiasis.
X-ray
Paragonimiasis is a disease caused by species of lung flukes of the genus Paragonimus. Eight species have been identified which use man as a host, and the disease has a range of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The most predominant infective species are P. westermani and P. kellicotti.
The earliest reported observation of Paragonimus was in an otter, Lutra braziliense, in Brazil during 1850. Subsequently, forty more species would be described all over the world in a breadth of hosts from mammals to crustaceans. P. westermani became known to the western scientific community in 1878, when seen in a Bengal tiger of an Amsterdam zoo. The species name is derived from that of the zookeeper, a Mr. Westerman. P. kellicotti was described in 1908. (Stanford.edu)
Life-cycle of Paragonimiasis
* Like Fascioliasis, the intermediate host is a snail. Eggs mature in 2-3 weeks into miracidia, which penetrate the snail host. 2-3 months later free-swimming cercariae are released.
* Then it develops through a second intermediate host, crayfish or crabs, which are penetrated by the cercariae, or infected by eating the snails.
* Encysted metacercariae within the crabs or crayfish are consumed by carnivores: dog, cat, wildcat, tiger, leopard, panther, wolf, fox, mink, otter, mongoose, rat, pig, monkeys, and other mammals, including man.
* The metacercariae are released from the cysts in the small intestine, pass through and migrate to the pleural cavity, appearing there after about 14 days.
* After another 2 weeks, young worms enter the lung, maturing over several weeks in parasitic cysts.
* Large quantities of eggs are released into bronchial secretions and an individual may cough up or pass up to 13,000 a day.
* Adult worms usually die within 6 years, but can live for 20 years in humans. (Patient UK)
So, it is true that paragonimiasis could caused by consuming crawfish (mini lobsters), especially it is not farmed in a good environment which lessens the percentage of having Paragonimus Westermani lunging onto it; but do note that not only mini lobsters such as these carries possible disease of this. Let’s see what are the other types of foods that are not advice to take if not cooked properly.
Risk factors
Raw or poorly cooked crustaceans are popular in some societies:
* "Drunken crab" in China is strips of raw crabmeat soaked in rice wine
* Raw crab or crayfish in alcohol is a favourite in the Philippines and other countries. The wine kills the crabs but the metacercariae survive for several hours.
* "Gye muchim" in Korea is seasoned raw crab
* Sushi crab, "ama ebi" (raw prawn), and "odori - dancing prawns" are popular in Japan (Patient UK)
Therefore at the end of the day, what it can be said is seafood such as these are advice not to consumed if it is not cooked thoroughly, and perhaps, when you see that the environment is getting more polluted, we should them alone as a part of helping out to filter our ecosystem from too much toxic that goes to other food resources.
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