Topics: Food and Drink, Health, Travel, Cancer, World News, Advice, Science
We all love a bit of Thai food every now again, but this dish could give you a lot more than you bargain for.
There are many foods that carry quite a bit of danger, like puffer fish for example - who can forget that episode of The Simpsons - but one particular dish from Southeast Asia could be your last.
That’s because even just a single bite could end up giving you liver cancer.
The carcinogenic meal is even believed to be responsible for the deaths of 20,000 people in Thailand each year - an insane number of people if you think about it.
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While you might be wondering if it contains cyanide or poison, the answer is no.
This extremely popular dish belongs to the Thai province of Khon Kaen and is called Koi Pla.
Koi Pla is a plate of minced raw fish with ground up herbs, spices, lemon juice, live red ants, and is typically eaten raw.
It doesn’t sound half bad, but I couldn’t recommend getting it when you visit.
Millions of people eat it in the area and it’s cheap to make - which adds to its appeal as it comes from one of the poorest provinces, Isaan.
They also eat Kio hoi which contains raw snail meat and can also be deadly.
You might think it’s the raw fish that can give you cancer, but you’d be wrong.
It’s actually what lives inside of it.
The parasitic flatworms - or live flukes – are what can give you liver cancer as these parasites are native to fresh water fish in the Mekong region.
Isaan reportedly has the highest reported instance of cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) in the world because of the meal.
A liver surgeon in Thailand, Narong Khuntikeo, whose parents both died after eating the meal is now fighting against its legality.
He continued: "But nobody knows about this because they die quietly, like leaves falling from a tree."
The disease is almost impossible to survive through if it’s not caught in time.
Khuntikeo has spent four years testing villagers from the region for the parasite and has been joined by a team of scientists, doctors and anthropologists, who are all trying to find out the true impact of the dish.
The team of experts have been using ultrasound machines and urine testing kits, which shockingly found that 80 per cent of inhabitants were found to have ingested the deadly parasite, which could lead to an awful future.
Even though he’s trying his best to spread awareness about the dangers of eating koi pla, the older generation don’t want to hear it.
Even the local health officials have introduced a school curriculum to teach children about the risks of raw foods.
But the oldies aren’t having it.
He explained: "They’ll say: 'Oh well, there are many ways to die'.
"But I cannot accept this answer."
The reason they’re so against not eating a dish that could kill them?
If they cook the fish and kill the parasite, it won’t taste as good.
Hopefully, they’ll come around soon.
