July 2004 Seafood FAQs
Consumers want to know: How fresh is ‘fresh’?
Educate your customers so they’ll know how to recognize top-quality seafood
Seafood is often a high-risk purchase for consumers, since it often costs more than other proteins and is highly perishable. For them, buying poor-quality fish that results in an unsatisfactory meal at home is a big turn-off.
The best way to attract and retain seafood customers is to carry only the freshest possible product and teach shoppers to recognize fresh fish. In many cases, the freshest seafood has actually been frozen. The more information you provide your customers, the more they will trust you and the more willing they’ll be to prepare seafood at home.
Here are some answers to common consumer questions about freshness.
Q. How can I be sure I’m always buying the freshest seafood?
Learn to judge the quality of fish and shellfish.
If you can see the whole fish, look for clear, bright, bulging eyes; bright-red, slime-free gills; firm flesh; brightly colored scales; and an ocean-fresh scent with no traces of a strong “fishy” smell.
Fillets should be bright and uniform in color with firm, moist flesh. Avoid fillets with bruises, red spots, yellowing or browning at the edges or flesh that is ragged, mushy, gaping, dry or “fishy” smelling.
A live lobster should curl its tail under when lifted, and a live crab’s legs should move. Their shells should be hard, except for softshell blue crabs and new-shell lobsters.
Live clams, mussels, oysters and scallops should have clean, unbroken and moist shells that are tightly closed or close when tapped.
Shucked clams, mussels and oysters should be plump, with clear liquor free of shell particles or grit. Meats should have a clean ocean smell.
Fresh shrimp should be firm; the shell should be translucent and moist.
Look for frozen seafood that is frozen through and glossy. Avoid partially thawed fish, any fish with flesh bearing white or dark spots, ice crystals or freezer burn or dry, papery edges.
Q. Isn’t all seafood in my grocer’s case fresh?
No. Fresh can be used in the marketplace to describe any product that is not frozen. Some fish, like swordfish steaks, is sold in the frozen state, but other fish in the case may have arrived at the store frozen and been thawed before sale.
The Food and Drug Administration requires thawed product to be labeled “previously frozen.” Re-freezing previously frozen fish is not recommended. In most cases, re-freezing the fish would not make it unsafe to eat but would degrade the texture, particularly of fatty fish, says Ken Gall, seafood specialist at New York Sea Grant.
“FAS” means the fish was frozen at sea aboard the harvesting vessel, usually soon after it was caught. There is no government or industry standard for how quickly after harvest fish must be frozen.
Q. Is fresh seafood better than frozen?
Not necessarily. Both fresh and frozen products can be of high or poor quality. Frozen seafood is often superior to its fresh counterpart when the product is harvested in a remote location and spends several days getting to the store for sale. Frozen is often preferred for fish caught by boats that spend a week or two at sea, because the frozen fish is better quality than the fish caught early in the trip and stored in the hold until the boat returns to port.
Q. What is the best-quality seafood — FAS, previously frozen or fresh?
The answer depends on so many variables that it’s better to train your eyes and nose to judge quality.
Product quality depends on the species, the distance it had to travel to the store, how soon after harvest it was frozen and what temperature it has been kept at since harvest.
Ideally, fish that is going to be frozen should be processed into its final form and frozen as quickly as possible under sanitary food handling conditions to as low a temperature as possible.
The freezing and storage temperature should be a minimum of 0 degrees F and preferably minus 20 to minus 30 degrees F.
Ideally, fresh product is handled properly from harvest throughout the distribution process and kept at 32 degrees F. The shelf life varies by species and handling. New England groundfish, for example, that is good quality and held at 32 degrees F should be fresh for 14 days.
Q. The seafood department staff say the fish is fresh, but it doesn’t look quite right. What should I do?
Shop at a store that carries quality fish and is staffed by people who can say with confidence: “I can guarantee my fish for three days from the day I’m selling it to you.”
Evie Hansen, marketing director of National Seafood Educators in Washington, D.C., recommends that anyone servicing a retail seafood counter be prepared to offer the consumer a 10- to 15-second, quantifiable explanation regarding product freshness.
For example: “Our salmon is harvested alive, then flown in. When we fly in live-harvested salmon, we can guarantee you at least three days in the refrigerator if you keep it at 32 to 40 degrees.”
Q. I want to buy my fish now and cook it in four days. Will it still be safe to eat if it’s stored in the refrigerator?
Four days is pushing it for refrigerated fish. Keep it one to two days from purchase and stored it as close to 32 degrees F as possible. Most home refrigerators operate at 40 degrees F, which will cause the product to deteriorate.
The New York Seafood Council recommends wrapping the fish in plastic and burying the bag or container in ice.
If you’re unsure when you’ll cook the fish, keep it in the freezer and cook it from its frozen state. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute last year developed “Cook It Frozen” materials and a promotional campaign with recipes available at www.alaskaseafood.org.
But the technique works with any kind of fish, says Gall, and it’s safer because it eliminates the thawing step, where there is potential for the fish to deteriorate and bacteria to increase.
“It will take longer to cook, so cook it with a sauce or something that keeps the moisture in it,” says Gall.