Risk of parasites in frozen food?

[MellowReefer]

My usual brand of frozen food (hikari) advertises "three step sterilization process" to be free of harmful parasites and bacteria. Another brand I just bought says nothing about sterilizing. Is this just a marketing tool, or is there really a risk of getting crypto or other parasites from frozen food? Not that this is keeping me up at night or anything, just wanted to see if anyone knows if it's actually a risk (albeit probably a very small one).

 

[snorvich]

Zero chance in frozen food.

 

[MellowReefer]

Thanks!

 

[ThRoewer]

Zero chance in frozen food.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. There are many things that can survive easily normal freezer temperatures. That's why some Sushi fish needs to be frozen below -40°C to kill certain pathogens. Normal freezers go only down to -20°C at best.

So it depends how the food is frozen and at which temperature.

Parasites or diseases transmitted by food are in general intestinal parasites, fungal, viral or bacterial. Though mostly those are transmitted by fresh foods.

However, ich, velvet, brook and the like are extremely unlikely to be spread by frozen foods.

 

[snorvich]

Pathogens can be transmitted. IMO, the parasites we normally worry about will not.

 

[ThRoewer]

Well, the things that give me sleepless nights are not the parasites I know I can easily treat but rather bacterial, fungal and viral infections that can make you lose your entire tank.

 

[snorvich]

The question was: Risk of parasites in frozen food?

 

[ThRoewer]

Well, we can be picky about what a parasite and what an infectious disease is.
Either case is something we don't want and the distinction is purely academic
For the affected fish it's for sure of no significant difference.

Plus he cites specifically bacteria, and bacteria are not reliably killed by freezing.