Sashimi grade fish

Whole foods is probably your best bet besides a sushi place. Not many markets/grocery stores are going to carry true "sashimi/sushi" grade (never frozen or treated) tuna because it is so expensive and most consumers are not willing to pay $17-$25+ per pound.

If you were looking to buy a whole tuna loin then your best bet would probably be to go see a seafood wholesaler. Depending on what town you are in I could give you some recommendations.

I have a secret to tell you. Much of the fish you get in BR sushi places has been frozen.

Check with Maxwell's. If he doesn't have any fresh never frozen tuna in stock he could probably get it for you.
I really don't care for previously frozen tuna at $10/lb. Fresh tuna is just too good and I just end up eating the frozen tuna thinking I wish I was eating a good fresh piece.

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Some of their tuna is previously frozen, not all

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When I lived around the corner I frequented their fish case several times a month, when I wasn't able to get on the boat. I never saw a never frozen tuna display. It will say fresh, but it's "fresh frozen". There is a significant price difference between the two. Almost double usually.

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I have a secret to tell you. Much of the fish you get in BR sushi places has been frozen.

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And much of the fish you get in BR sushi places has never been frozen. Sushi chefs I've dealt with will never use frozen tuna if they can get their hands on fresh/never frozen sushi grade tuna.

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Posted by Message pooponsaban Sashimi grade fish So we agree.

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In a way yes. As long as the market is not tight(no fresh tuna available), most nicer(high quality) sushi places will use fresh over frozen anyday.

Now the Japanese/Chinese type sushi places that are cheaper probably use frozen tuna a lot. Most restaurants also use frozen tuna. Exceptions would be higher end/white table cloth restaurants who will use fresh sushi grade tuna also.

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I'm pretty sure all Tuna is frozen. I think you have to flash freeze it to kill bacteria.


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The only concern any inspectors have is referred to as the parasite destruction guarantee, which is accomplished by ‘freezing and storing seafood at -4°F (-20°C) or below for 7 days (total time), or freezing at -31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at -31°F (-35°C) or below for 15 hours, or freezing at -31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at -4°F (-20°C) or below for 24 hours’ which is sufficient to kill parasites. The FDA’s Food Code recommends these freezing conditions to retailers who provide fish intended for raw consumption

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This just FDA bullshite. Notice it says the FDA "recommends" freezing.

My family was in the tuna wholesale business for 20+ years(shipped yellowfin across the country) and even processed yellowfin for restaurants in the Louisiana,Mississippi,Alabama, and Florida areas. We had route trucks to deliver the fish.

With that said, when I was taking my HACCP course about 7 years ago, I brought up this question about freezing of tuna to an FDA guy teaching the course. We were split in groups and given case problems where we had to develop a HACCP plan for processing of fish with the threat of histamines(tuna,mahi,wahoo,etc-threat to only certain species of fish) and also the regular bacteria threat(which is in all fish). It just so happened that my family had their HACCP plan already written up for this exact example and I knew it by heart. I already learned how to write that exact HACCP plan from my brothers that were in the business and older than me and had taken the course 5-10 years before me. Anyway I brought up the question, how can I sell my tuna to sushi restaurants if my sushi customers do not want frozen tuna. Freezing tuna changes the color and texture of tuna and the majority of sushi chefs do not like the changes freezing makes to tuna. The FDA guy knew it was a tricky question and it took him a few seconds to respond and finally he smirked at me and said, just make your HACCP plan out with the intent of selling your tuna to be "cooked before consumption to kill such and such bacteria...". Well this is exactly what my family's HACCP plan already said and I knew this issue before I even took the class because my brothers have already dealt with that problem. It's more of a liability issue than anything. Eating anything raw presents potential risks whether it is fish or oysters or meat. Cooking will kill most bacteria just from the temperature factor alone.

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As long as the market is not tight(no fresh tuna available), most nicer(high quality) sushi places will use fresh over frozen anyday.




What about the myriad of other species offered at sushi restaurants? That yellowtail, snapper, mahi, wahoo and flounder is fresh too?

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Yellowtail is Hamachi and is frozen shipped in from Asia/Japan. It is very expensive and must be a traditional sushi fish from Japan. It is sort of like the Japanese version of our amberjack. A lot of the other fish species are fresh and have never been frozen (if it is a higher quality type place). They get fresh snapper from the gulf of Mexico and also from South America(Pacific & Atlantic side). Mahi,wahoo,flounder,etc comes from the gulf of Mexico and the east cost and is fresh also. Salmon is fresh and comes from either Canada,Chile,Scotland,or Norway. Shipping only takes a day or two overnight so fish can still be fresh coming from Foreign countries. I'm not saying they won't use frozen but if you have ever dealt with a sushi chef, you will realize how picky and quality conscience some of them are.

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I'm hitting Sushi Yama for lunch. All this fish talk has me hungry.

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The sushi chef there was really picky but that is obviously a good thing for the customers. You should see some of these Japanese guys picking out whole tuna and whole salmon. They inspect the hell out of it to say the least.