Parasitic contaminants in food

Abstract

There is a wide variety of food products that may be contaminated with one or more parasites and consequently enabling transmission to human beings. The prevalence of specific parasites in food supplies varies between countries and regions. Sources of food-borne products contaminated with parasites are pigs, cattle, fish, crabs, crayfish, snails, frogs, snakes and aquatic plants. One of the major factors influencing the prevalence of parasitic infections in the population is the habit, and traditional popularity of eating raw or inadequately cooked foods. The parasites that may be acquired by eating these foods are nematodes, trematodes, cestodes and protozoa. The major genera of parasites are Trichinella, Gnathostoma, Angiostrongylus, Anisakis, Paragonimus, Clonorchis, Opisthorchis, Fasciola, Fasciolopsis, Echinostoma, Taenia, Spirometra and Toxoplasma. These food-borne parasitic infections are public health problems worldwide. The contamination of food affects many including humans, livestock industry, agriculture, and food manufacturing and processing. Unsafe foods must be condemned and destroyed. Today there is increasing travel hence there is the risk of humans' acquiring food-borne parasitic infections through eating native food often raw. Moreover, the consumption of imported livestock and foods, especially from endemic areas of food-borne parasitic zoonoses, can be the cause of infection. Awareness should be heightened wherever and whenever raw or inadequately cooked food are consumed.