re: Grilled fish and worms that are in the fillet

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Zappas Stache Grilled fish and worms that are in the fillet quote: Im not sure what sushi restaraunts do but im sure they inspect it better than i would. Sushi grade fish in the US and Europe are required to be frozen to kill the parasites before thawing and serving. Also, wasabi and ginger supposedly kill parasites.

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I posted this in a thread about a week ago. Someone brought up the issue with freezing and I explained my experience with the fish business and the FDA.

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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 is 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.