Shocked mother finds possible tongue-eating parasite in can of tuna she was about to feed to kids

Tuesday, December 22, 2015 by: PF Louis
Tags: tuna can, food safety, E. coli

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(NaturalNews) A mother in Nottingham, England, home of the Robin Hood versus the Sheriff of Nottingham legend, was attacked by an ugly mini-sea-monster when she opened up a can of tuna to feed her kids earlier this year. Okay, that's an exaggeration.

But what if you opened a can of tuna and discovered a thumbnail-sized, purple-colored, fleshy head with eyes looking at you from amid the tuna? This is not your ordinary tiny, unnoticeable worm-type parasite. What resembles a miniature sea monster head was actually the whole creature, apparently.

The creature was at first identified by photo only as a dead tongue-eating parasite that gets into large fish and feeds off the fish's tongue. That's the sensational way it was reported from several news outlets throughout the world.

But eventually, after sending the tuna surprise creature to Princes, the food company that sold the tuna, the creature was identified as a megalopa -- a very small immature crab that tuna feed on -- with its legs chopped off.

Regarding her sudden overwhelming notoriety from the many news items, 28-year-old Zoe Butler said: "I do feel sorry for it now because so many people say it's cute - it's like it gained a personality. A lot of people said it could be aliens but obviously it wasn't - sorry to disappoint."

Yes, it did look like an alien or aborted alien fetus, very weird and ugly.

Leslie Willis, the customer care manager for Princes, the company that sold the tuna, said Zoe would be compensated, and added, "We appreciate that the appearance of the crab will have been unpleasant, however please be assured that it represented no food safety risk."

Well, okay then. A big fuss for nothing harmful, except for scaring the daylights out of Zoe as she opened the can of tuna. But what about all the processed and factory farm foods that are actually contaminated in ways that can cause harm?

Dr. Micheal Greger and NutritionFacts.org discuss USA's low meat safety standards

Dr. Michael Greger, MD, blogs and does short videos on nutrition. He is not a vegan, but he openly espouses plant foods as the way to go for optimum health. One of his blog posts is titled "Why is it Legal to Sell Unsafe Meat?"

In the article, Dr. Greger points out: "In Sweden, for example, it's illegal to sell chicken contaminated with Salmonella, the leading cause of food poisoning deaths in the United States. It's illegal to sell a product that could kill or cripple our children--what a concept!"

Illegal means criminal prosecution is warranted, not a recall after some people die and several others puke their guts out from consuming the infected products.

After the famous nationwide Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak in 1993, of which this author was a recipient during a road trip to Los Angeles from Santa Fe, NM, E. coli O157 was declared an adulterant, forcing closer scrutiny in the meat package industry despite its resistance.

The other six E. coli strains were ignored, as the meat industry strongly opposed further regulation. Then, another E. coli outbreak ravaged six states in 2011-12. This time, it was E. coli O145.

A three-year-old child died a gruesome death. Another first grader died from a different strain of E. coli. So this time, U.S. food safety officials insisted on inspecting raw meats randomly for all the other six strains of E. coli.

Dr. Greger insists that all E. coli comes from feces or fecal matter, and fecal matter is found in most factory farmed meats, including pork, beef and poultry. Farmed fish is also included.

Although the E. coli scrutiny exists for more strains now, the effectiveness is dependent on how many inspections can be accomplished. And the meat industry always opposes it.

Dr. Greger has determined that organic, free-range poultry has much lower fecal matter than the non-organic commercial poultry that most consume.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.nydailynews.com

http://www.nottinghampost.com

http://nutritionfacts.org

http://nutritionfacts.org

http://nutritionfacts.org

http://nutritionfacts.org