Parasites

Appears in
Professional Cooking: 10th Edition
Professional Cooking

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2025

  • About

Parasites are organisms that can survive only by living on or inside another organism. The organism a parasite lives in and takes nourishment from is called the host. Parasites may pass from one host organism to another and complete a different stage of their life cycle in each organism. Human parasites are generally transmitted to them from animal hosts.

Human parasites are usually very small, and although they may be microscopic, they are larger than bacteria. They can usually be killed by proper cooking or by freezing.