SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Lounge    When Did Thawed-Out Previously Frozen Fish Become A Thing At Supermarket Seafood Departments?
Page 1 2 
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
When Did Thawed-Out Previously Frozen Fish Become A Thing At Supermarket Seafood Departments? Login/Join 
Get my pies
outta the oven!

Picture of PASig
posted
I bought some cod today for a dinner for the wife and while it came out pretty damn good, I noticed that it was labeled "previously frozen" in the case at the supermarket seafood counter I got it from. Almost all the fish there appeared to have been frozen but was thawed and being sold as "fresh"! When did this become a thing? I worked in a meat/seafood department at a large local supermarket chain 25 years ago when in high school and I clearly remember everything that went in that display case came in fresh, never frozen. Did something change between then and now?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PASig,


 
Posts: 33802 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: November 12, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Not all who wander
are lost.
Picture of JohnV
posted Hide Post
Ran 2 grocery stories both grossing $1m/week and the whole time I ran them the seafood came in frozen. So I have no idea, but it sure seems fishy. Smile





Posted from my iPhone.
 
Posts: 4313 | Location: Tennessee | Registered: February 22, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
goodheart
Picture of sjtill
posted Hide Post
Don't fishing boats flash-freeze the fish on the boat?


_________________________
“ What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.”— Lord Melbourne
 
Posts: 18058 | Location: One hop from Paradise | Registered: July 27, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I believe in the
principle of
Due Process
Picture of JALLEN
posted Hide Post
Might it have something to do with where the store is?

Fresh seafood is no big deal in San Diego. It's probably a lot harder to get here in the Texas hill country.

It may be, too, that labeling wasn't as scrupulously adhered to back in the day.

We special order sole and calamari fillets from our supermarket. The calamari comes frozen. The sole is supposedly fresh. It seems so.




Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown
 
Posts: 48369 | Location: Texas hill country | Registered: July 04, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Neel
posted Hide Post
Whenever I purchase fish from the market if it's in the case, I ask the person to put it on a piece of deli paper and let me have a whiff.

I'll get a strange look upon occasion, but I've never purchased a bad piece of fish.


_________________________
NRA Patron Life Member
 
Posts: 559 | Location: Idaho Panhandle | Registered: May 26, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of 2tonicP220
posted Hide Post
Some Salmon is frozen twice. When caught and partially processed, shipped to China, thawed and finish processed, than frozen for shipment.


______________________________
Nitro smoke rewards a long days toil...
 
Posts: 2049 | Location: NW PA | Registered: March 03, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
The Unmanned Writer
Picture of LS1 GTO
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by sjtill:
Don't fishing boats flash-freeze the fish on the boat?


Pretty sure if has to do with this. Not sure how long it takes for the fish to be solidified by the process but I do recall hearing it is so fast it prevents the organisms cells from being punctuated by ice crystals thereby turning it to mush.

Birdseye was the first to use this process.






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers



 
Posts: 14037 | Location: It was Lat: 33.xxxx Lon: 44.xxxx now it's CA :( | Registered: March 22, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Ammoholic
Picture of Skins2881
posted Hide Post
I'm more worried about wild caught than frozen. You can flash freeze a good piece of fish, and it's still a good piece of fish. No matter how fresh a farm raised fish is, it's still crappy.



Jesse

Sic Semper Tyrannis
 
Posts: 20820 | Location: Loudoun County, Virginia | Registered: December 27, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of OttoSig
posted Hide Post
Unless you're buying it off the boat on a coastal area it's all previously frozen, they are simply telling you. How in the he'll does one expect fresh fish from the Atlantic in Kansas or such? He'll even a place like Texas is a haul, you don't want fish that hasn't been flash frozen after 24 hours!





11 years to retirement! Just waiting!
 
Posts: 6318 | Location: Maryland | Registered: August 10, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Unflappable Enginerd
Picture of stoic-one
posted Hide Post
Very common practice, it also allows distribution chains and stores to better manage delivery and inventory.

If you want "fresh" or unfrozen, look for tags like "fresh from _insert nearest large body of water_", in my case it's the gulf. Even then, unless it's a live variety(crabs and such) it may have still been frozen

Probably 70%+ of seafood sold in the US was previously frozen.


__________________________________

NRA Benefactor
I lost all my weapons in a boating, umm, accident.
http://www.aufamily.com/forums/
 
Posts: 6212 | Location: Headland, AL | Registered: April 19, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
Around here it's not just seafood, lots of different meats have the same disclaimer.
 
Posts: 1833 | Location: central Alabama | Registered: July 31, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Raptorman
Picture of Mars_Attacks
posted Hide Post
Maybe Unfrozen cave man lawyer could look into it.



____________________________

Eeewwww, don't touch it!
Here, poke at it with this stick.
 
Posts: 34115 | Location: North, GA | Registered: October 09, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Go ahead punk, make my day
posted Hide Post
(1) How close do you live to the fishing fleet or hatchery?

(2) If (1) is not "close", but "far", you get frozen fish. It works for your frozen pizza, your frozen "Lean Cuisine" for lunch @InoTech, and your Ben & Jerry's, so it's fine for your fish too.
 
Posts: 45798 | Registered: July 12, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of barndg00
posted Hide Post
I don't mind that they freeze it, I would prefer they simply left it frozen once it has been. I'd rather it not sit thawed in the case for a couple days before I buy it, I'll thaw it at home thank you.
 
Posts: 2155 | Location: NC | Registered: January 01, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Unflappable Enginerd
Picture of stoic-one
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by barndg00:
I don't mind that they freeze it, I would prefer they simply left it frozen once it has been. I'd rather it not sit thawed in the case for a couple days before I buy it, I'll thaw it at home thank you.
To that point, I've actually asked for still packaged, and as a result still frozen and vacuum packaged, and had them go to the freezer and get them for me(tuna steaks in this case).

That way you can "know" when it was defrosted...

They are trying to create an illusion that you are buying fresh and never frozen when you're really not.


__________________________________

NRA Benefactor
I lost all my weapons in a boating, umm, accident.
http://www.aufamily.com/forums/
 
Posts: 6212 | Location: Headland, AL | Registered: April 19, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Ammoholic
Picture of Skins2881
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by stoic-one:
quote:
Originally posted by barndg00:
I don't mind that they freeze it, I would prefer they simply left it frozen once it has been. I'd rather it not sit thawed in the case for a couple days before I buy it, I'll thaw it at home thank you.
To that point, I've actually asked for still packaged, and as a result still frozen and vacuum packaged, and had them go to the freezer and get them for me(tuna steaks in this case).

That way you can "know" when it was defrosted...

They are trying to create an illusion that you are buying fresh and never frozen when you're really not.


This is exactly what I do. Unless I need it that moment, then I get from the display. Luckily I am friendly with the lady that runs my Safeway fish counter and she tells me exactly how long it's been in case or I ask for the ones that are visibly partially frozen.

It pays to be friendly with meat/seafood counter employees.



Jesse

Sic Semper Tyrannis
 
Posts: 20820 | Location: Loudoun County, Virginia | Registered: December 27, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
It's known as I.Q.F

Once seafood is caught USDA will allow it to be referred to as fresh if it's frozen to sub-zero temps within a certain time. Typically it also has to be labeled "once frozen"

Shrimpers around me will go out for a week or longer at a time. It's the only way to prevent it from spoiling

In LA a retailer is required to label it IQF or when asked if it is openly state


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live today as if it may be your last and learn today as if you will live forever
 
Posts: 6226 | Location: New Orleans...outside the levees, fishing in the Rigolets | Registered: October 11, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Unflappable Enginerd
Picture of stoic-one
posted Hide Post
It really is all about pricing more than anything else.

Take a look at the selection available at your typical supermarket. Consumers would scoff if they were forced to pay what it takes to get all of those types of seafood shipped directly to each store unfrozen, most all of the prices would increase by an order of magnitude. Not to mention how precise their inventory management would have to be to reduce spoilage, also to keep the cost down.


__________________________________

NRA Benefactor
I lost all my weapons in a boating, umm, accident.
http://www.aufamily.com/forums/
 
Posts: 6212 | Location: Headland, AL | Registered: April 19, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Oh stewardess,
I speak jive.
Picture of 46and2
posted Hide Post
If you didn't get it off the boat / docks, it's surely frozen no matter what the sign says.
 
Posts: 25613 | Registered: March 12, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Unflappable Enginerd
Picture of stoic-one
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by 46and2:
If you didn't get it off the boat / docks, it's surely frozen no matter what the sign says.
While that's true, I believe that grocers are required to tell you what you're buying if asked... Where I live, there are certain things I can buy which I know were never frozen, depending who I buy from.


__________________________________

NRA Benefactor
I lost all my weapons in a boating, umm, accident.
http://www.aufamily.com/forums/
 
Posts: 6212 | Location: Headland, AL | Registered: April 19, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata Page 1 2  
 

SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Lounge    When Did Thawed-Out Previously Frozen Fish Become A Thing At Supermarket Seafood Departments?

© SIGforum 2024