Seafood is a high-protein food that is low in calories, total fat, and saturated fat. High in vitamins and minerals, seafood has numerous health benefits. For example, recent studies have shown that eating seafood can decrease heart attack, stroke, obesity, and hypertension. Seafood also provides essential nutrients for developing infants and children. (Trusted Source)
Fish and shellfish contain high-quality protein and other essential nutrients and are vital to a healthful diet. A well-balanced diet that includes various fish and shellfish can contribute to heart health and aid in children’s proper growth and development.
As with any food, it is essential to safely handle seafood to reduce foodborne illness risk, often called “food poisoning.” Follow these safe handling tips for buying, preparing, and storing fish and shellfish – and you and your family can safely enjoy the refined taste and good nutrition of seafood
Buy Right / Fresh Fish and Shrimp
Only buy fish that is refrigerated or displayed on a thick bed of fresh ice (preferably in a case or under some cover). Because the color of a fish can be affected by diet, environment, and treatment with a color fixative such as carbon monoxide or other packaging processes, color alone is not an indicator of freshness. The following tips can help you when making purchasing decisions:
Fish should smell fresh and mild, not fishy, sour, or ammonia-like.
A fish’s eyes should be clear and shiny.
Whole fish should have firm flesh and red gills with no odor. Fresh fillets should have firm flesh and red bloodlines, or red flesh if fresh tuna. The meat should spring back when pressed.
Fish fillets should display no discoloration, darkening, or drying around the edges.
Shrimp, scallop, and lobster flesh should be clear with a pearl-like color and little or no odor.
Some refrigerated seafood may have time/temperature indicators on their packaging, which show if the product has been stored at the proper temperature. Always check the indicators when they are present and only buy the seafood if the arrow indicates that the product is safe to eat.
Fresh fish and fish fillets sold as “Previously Frozen” may not have all the characteristics of fresh fish (e.g., bright eyes, firm flesh, red gills, flesh, or bloodlines); however, they should still smell new and mild, not fishy, sour, or rotten.
Selecting Shellfish
Follow these general guidelines for safely selecting shellfish:
Look for the label: Look for tags on sacks or containers of live shellfish (in the shell) and labels on shucked shellfish containers or packages. These tags and labels contain specific information about the product, including the processor’s certification number. This means that the shellfish were harvested and processed per national shellfish safety controls.
Discard Cracked/Broken Ones: Throw away clams, oysters, and mussels if their shells are cracked or broken.
Do a “Tap Test”: Live clams, oysters, and mussels will close when the shell is tapped. If they don’t close when tapped, do not select them.
Check for Leg Movement: Live crabs and lobsters should show some leg movement. They spoil rapidly after death, so only live crabs and lobsters should be selected and prepared.
Frozen Seafood
Frozen seafood can spoil if the fish thaws during transport and is left at warm temperatures for too long before cooking.
Don’t buy frozen seafood if its package is open, torn, or crushed on the edges.
Avoid packages with signs of frost or ice crystals, which may mean the fish has been stored a long time or thawed and refrozen.
Avoid boxes where the “frozen” fish flesh is not hard. The fish should not be bendable.
Store Properly
Put seafood on ice or in the refrigerator or freezer soon after buying it. If seafood is used within 2 days after purchase, store it in a clean refrigerator at 40°F or below. Use a refrigerator thermometer to check! Otherwise, wrap it tightly in plastic, foil, or moisture-proof paper and store it in the freezer.
Separate for Safety
When preparing fresh or thawed seafood, it’s essential to prevent bacteria from raw seafood from spreading to ready-to-eat foods. Take these steps to avoid cross-contamination:
When buying unpackaged cooked seafood, make sure it is physically separated from raw seafood. It should be in its own display case or separated from natural products by dividers.
Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water after handling any raw food.
Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and countertops with soap and hot water between the preparation of raw foods, such as seafood, and the practice of cooked or ready-to-eat foods.
For added protection, kitchen sanitizers can be used on cutting boards and countertops after use. Or use a solution of one tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water.
If you use plastic or other non-porous cutting boards, run them, plastic, metal, or ceramic utensils through the dishwasher after use.
Prepare Safely
Thawing
Thaw frozen seafood gradually by placing it in the refrigerator overnight. If you have to thaw seafood quickly, either seal it in a plastic bag and immerse it in cold water, or — if the food will be cooked immediately after that — microwave it on the “defrost” setting and stop the defrost cycle. At the same time, the fish is still icy but pliable.
Cooking
Most seafood should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145°F. If you don’t have a food thermometer, there are other ways to determine whether seafood is done.
Fish: The flesh is clear and separates easily with a fork
Shrimp, Scallops, Crab, and Lobster: The flesh becomes firm and clear
Clams, Mussels, and Oysters: The shells open during cooking — throw out ones that don’t open
Uncooked spoiled seafood can have sour, rancid, fishy, or ammonia odors. These odors become stronger after cooking. If you smell putrid, awful, or fishy odors in raw or cooked seafood, do not eat it. If you smell either a fleeting or persistent ammonia odor in cooked seafood, do not eat it.
