Professional answer: Bullfrogs are indeed edible

In recent years, bullfrog, with its tender meat, has become a delicacy on the dinner table. Stir-fried bullfrog, grilled bullfrog, fried bullfrog, buttered bullfrog, French garlic bullfrog...the various ways of eating that combine Chinese and Western styles are all attracting diners.However, there are claims on the Internet that bullfrogs are a food safety hazard and should not be eaten. Is this really the case?

Bullfrog drug exceeds standard?

Some people say that in recent years, news about excessive drug residues in bullfrogs has often been seen on the Internet. What's going on?

Bullfrogs can also get sick, and most of the wild ones will die if left unattended. But the farmers still expect to make money from the artificially bred bullfrogs. When the bullfrogs get sick, they need to be treated. Therefore, some drugs are indeed used during bullfrog breeding. In addition, illegal drugs are also artificially added to aquatic products during the processing, packaging, storage, transportation, and sales. Because aquatic products are prone to scaling, abrasions, etc. during transportation and storage. If the water environment is not clean, saprolegnia is likely to occur, affecting the survival rate. Therefore, some traders will also use some drugs to prevent and treat diseases in the storage tanks where animals are transported. If someone uses drugs illegally in these links, it will cause the bullfrogs to exceed the standard of drugs.

In addition, pollution of the breeding environment may also lead to the detection of veterinary drugs and pesticide residues.For example, after some farmers used drugs to disinfect their ponds, when they continued to breed, they started breeding other animals without fully cleaning and purifying the ponds, which may lead to the accumulation of veterinary drugs.

However, the levels of veterinary drugs in regularly farmed bullfrogs are usually very low. Most people only eat bullfrog occasionally, so there is generally no need to worry about harm to the human body. Food safety is not risk-free. It is impossible to avoid the presence of various known and unknown hazardous substances in the environment. At present, the whole world uses food safety supervision systems to control possible risks to acceptable safety levels to ensure people's safety. It is recommended that everyone eat in regular restaurants because food safety supervision in regular restaurants is usually better.

Some people may say that bullfrogs have a drug problem, so is it better to eat less? In fact, from the perspective of dietary balance, it is recommended to eat less, which is a universal recommendation.

The basic principle of healthy eating recommended by the Dietary Guidelines is to eat a variety of foods, but eat no more of any food. Ensuring food diversity and eating every type of food can, on the one hand, prevent us from eating only one type of food and lead to excessive intake of possible harmful substances and reduce risks; on the other hand, it can also help to consume more balanced nutrients and promote good health.

The Diet Pagoda for Chinese Residents recommends that we eat 120-200 grams of animal food every day and aquatic products twice a week. Among them, the recommended daily intake of livestock and poultry meat is 40-75g. Common aquatic products include fish, shrimp, crab and shellfish, and the recommended daily intake is 40-75g.

Can you get parasites from eating bullfrogs?

It is said that bullfrogs carry more parasites than you think. Some bullfrogs do carry parasites, such as wild bullfrogs. Wild bullfrogs often carry the tapeworm Mansoni. The larvae of this parasite, schizocephalic larvae, can parasitize on humans and constantly travel around, invading the eyes, face, internal organs and even the brain. They can form lumps and indurations under the skin or muscles. They can also cause symptoms such as severe headaches, conjunctival hemorrhage, protruding eyes, epilepsy, abdominal pain, and even blindness and life-threatening symptoms. Moreover, sparganoides can lie dormant in the body for many years, and sometimes it takes several years before they are discovered.

If you happen to accidentally eat a wild bullfrog that has not been thoroughly cooked, you may become infected with parasites.

Therefore, two conditions must be met to contract parasites from eating bullfrogs: wild bullfrogs are not cooked.

Nowadays, the bullfrogs we have in regular restaurants are generally artificially bred, which is much safer than wild bullfrogs.When eating bullfrog, whether it is grilled bullfrog, boiled bullfrog, dry pot bullfrog or bullfrog hot pot, make sure it is fully heated and cooked, so you don't have to worry about parasites.

Are bullfrogs an invasive species?

Bullfrogs are indeed an invasive species, classified as a Level II serious invasive species. However, the main harm of invasive species is that they damage the ecological environment, but they may not necessarily cause harm to human health. Moreover, because of the tender meat of bullfrogs, humans have been studying its breeding technology. With the advancement of technology, bullfrogs have now been farmed on a large scale and have become a delicacy on people's tables. Relevant data shows that the annual output of bullfrog breeding nationwide exceeds 300,000 tons. After working so hard to raise so many bullfrogs, what a shame not to eat them? Oh, by the way, crayfish were also an invasive species when they first entered our country. The hairy crabs we like to eat are also considered invasive species abroad, and foreigners don’t like to eat them.

How to eat bullfrog safely?

If you want to happily eat bullfrog, I suggest you pay attention to:

1. Don’t eat wild bullfrogs, and don’t catch wild bullfrogs yourself.

Be especially careful not to catch bullfrogs when there are wounds on your hands. If you do, you must wear gloves to prevent your hands from being broken, because the parasite sparganas can enter the body through the skin and migrate to the human eyes, subcutaneous tissue, or brain, kidneys, lungs and other organs, causing serious symptoms.

If you want to cook bullfrog at home, it is recommended to buy artificially bred bullfrogs in regular supermarkets or markets instead of wild bullfrogs.

2 Pay attention to standard operation and separate raw and cooked food.

When cooking bullfrogs and other aquatic products at home, you must pay attention to standardized operations and separate raw and cooked food to prevent cross-contamination. For example, be sure to separate the knife and cutting board from other items when cutting bullfrogs, and use a separate vegetable basin for washing bullfrogs.

3. Eat when cooked.

Cooking through heating is the most effective way to kill parasites. When eating bullfrog and other aquatic products outside, many people choose to eat them raw in pursuit of delicious food. However, the risk of parasite infection is very high, so they must be cooked thoroughly at high temperature before eating.

In addition to bullfrogs, freshwater fish and shrimps such as fish (freshwater sashimi), snakes, and apple snails may also carry parasites. To prevent parasite infection, remember to fully heat and cook them before eating. Do not eat any freshwater fish and shrimp that have not been cooked. The risk of parasites in freshwater aquatic products is much greater. Never eat raw freshwater aquatic products.

4. Vinegar, soy sauce, wasabi paste, white wine, etc. cannot completely kill possible parasites.

Don’t think that you can eat them raw after soaking them in sauce.

5 Eat in moderation