A case for Sherlock Holmes?

Caught your salmon? Knocked it on the head? Ready for the pan? If so, make sure you cook it well, says the Food Standards Agency who warn that many wild salmon in Scottish rivers have been infected by the fish parasite, Anisakis simplex.

The parasite is bad news for people too as in extreme cases it causes death. Moreover it's difficult to detect it and it is difficult to remove the larvae. So if you do get it you had better hope that you are seeing a doctor like House (whose character, I only discovered the other day, is based on Sherlock Holmes).

In fact you should heed the same warning if you catch a salmon in England too, according to the Wessex Salmon and Rivers Trust that has received reports of the infection in the Hampshire Avon and the west country.

The agency says that salmon should be heated through at 70 deg C for at least two minutes to kill the parasite. If you're thinking of cold smoking the fish, marinating it for gradvadlax or making sashimi (raw, sliced fish, Japanese-style)you will need to freeze it first for at least 24 hours.

Better still, perhaps, put it back and shop at Tescos.