A mother of three got more than she bargained for on a recent Costco grocery run. The unexpected addition to her Alaskan wild sockeye salmon has her swearing off the popular fish for life.
Her entire family is also doing a 30-day cleanse just in case. But is what she found really an anomaly?
Earlier this week, Megan Henson (@megan_y_5) purchased a large package of wild-caught Alaskan sockeye salmon at Costco.
The drive home was a little over an hour, so by the time she got there, the fish had warmed a bit. Megan couldn’t believe her eyes when she looked at the package.
“Guess what starts popping out of the salmon when we got home? I really wish I was lying,” she says.
“If you are squeamish, if you have a sensitive tummy in any way, that was your warning,” Henson adds.
The fish was filled with parasites.
Disgusted, Henson let it sit out overnight. She recorded a video of the unsettling find the next morning and posted it to TikTok. It has nearly 780,000 views as of this writing.
In the post, Henson pans the camera to a large package of sockeye salmon. Sure enough, there are small, translucent parasites crawling on and in the meat.
“Oh my god that is so nasty,” she says.
Costco didn’t respond to an email sent to its investor relations inbox.
If seeing the parasites wasn’t unsettling enough, Henson shares that they had dinner at her mother’s the night before the Costco trip. The main dish: salmon, of course.
“Needless to say, everybody has started a parasite cleanse. Me, my husband, my kids, my mom,” Henson says.
A pest or extra protein?
While it’s only natural to be grossed out by the sight of creepy crawlies in your groceries, it’s actually not uncommon for salmon and other fresh fish to have parasites.
“Worms are gross, but once cooked, the fish would likely be fine to eat,” Matthew Stasiewicz, associate professor of Applied Food Safety at the University of Illinois, told The Kitchn in 2023. The piece was written after another viral video showed parasites in Costco salmon.
Stasiewicz noted that you can avoid parasites by buying farmed fish rather than fresh. You can also ensure they’re at least dead by freezing the fish or cooking it. Sushi-grade fish is typically frozen at extremely low temperatures to ensure any critters inside are killed before they’re consumed.
The likelihood of contracting a parasite from seafood is exceedingly low. As of 2010, there had purportedly only been 60 cases in the entire country.
While you certainly don’t want to contract Anisakidosis, the odds are almost nil that you will—even if you ate that entire piece of salmon Henson bought at Costco.
Throw it out or serve it to your family?
Some say that the presence of parasites may actually be a good thing.
“I’m from Alaska. Salmon kingdom,” user Jessica M. commented on Henson’s TikTok. “All fish have worms. If they are still alive that means the fish is fresh.”
Cierra Mistt agreed. “This is how Alaskans know their salmon is fresh… if anything this should reinforce buying it from Costco; it proves that it’s fresh.”
People were surprisingly unmoved by the parasites in Henson’s salmon.
“For the record…..humans have been eating wild salmon for thousands upon thousands of years without any problems,” wrote one.
Another agreed. “None of your reasons will make me stop eating salmon. This is all normal.”
It’s probably safe to say that they can have Henson’s share.
In a follow-up post, Henson says she got a refund for the salmon.
“Costco didn’t even want it,” she wrote. “He literally said throw it outside.”
Henson didn’t immediately respond to an emailed inquiry.
@megan_y_5 This cured me… forever and always. I’m not blaming Costco. Salmon is an extremely parasitic fish. You can’t even cook them out. This is also why parasite cleanses are SO important! The US is one of the only countries where it isn’t a regular practice. Most countries do it 1 or 2 times a year. Parasites cause so many issues within your body, you HAVE to get them out. . . . . #salmon #parasite #worms #costco #fish ♬ original sound – ???MEGAN???
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