Is a Dead Worm in Your Fish Dinner a Health Violation?

One minute you’re eating fried fish in your favorite restaurant, and the next you’re spitting out worms.

Now, is that a health code violation? If you say yes, you’d be wrong:

Kelly McCoy, a representative with the Sacramento County Health Department said as long as the worm was dead, there was no health code violation committed. McCoy said the discovery is more of a customer service issue.

On average, the Sacramento County Health Department receives about one complaint a month from restaurant patrons who find dead worms in fish, McCoy said.

Problems can arise if the fish is not properly cooked and the worms are still alive. If a person eats a live worm, he can become a host to the parasite. Finding a live worm in cooked fish would show that the fish was not properly cooked, and that would also be considered a violation, McCoy said.

Link