Undercooked Gomgogi Kebab Causes Parasitic Infection in US Family

CDC "Gomgogi, a Representative Cause of Sparganosis Infection"

A family in the United States was infected with parasites after eating undercooked bear meat.

On the 26th (local time), according to reports by the British daily The Guardian and the US NBC broadcast, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) introduced a case in a report released that day in which six family members were infected with Trichinella in July 2022.

Solenocyte. Photo by Yonhap News, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website

According to the report, eight family members gathered in South Dakota and shared kebabs made from black bear meat. A week later, a 29-year-old man in the family developed symptoms such as fever, severe muscle pain, and eye swelling, and was diagnosed with trichinosis.

Trichinosis is a disease caused by eating raw or undercooked meat infected with Trichinella. It can parasitize the muscles of many mammals such as humans, pigs, and rats, causing vomiting, diarrhea, fever, muscle stiffness and pain in infected muscles, difficulty breathing, facial swelling, and conjunctivitis.

Investigations confirmed that six of the people who shared the meat were infected with Trichinella. Among them, two people who only ate the vegetables cooked together also contracted trichinosis.

The black bear meat they shared was caught by one family member in May of that year in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, and had been frozen for 45 days. Because of the dark color of the meat, it was difficult to visually determine the degree of doneness, so they initially tasted it undercooked and then cooked the meat again before eating. Three of the six were hospitalized for treatment, and all have since recovered, foreign media reported.

Trichinosis is a rare infection even in the United States. According to the CDC, there were only seven reported cases of trichinosis in the US from January 2016 to December 2022. The CDC advised, "Bear meat is a representative cause of trichinosis infection," and recommended "cooking at least at 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius) or higher to prevent infection."