There are many ways to implement food safety practices in your daily work. Here are some easy steps you can take to make food safety a habit when ordering, receiving, storing and displaying seafood.
Ordering
• Establish Your Order Pars
• Order to sell through in two days
• Order the right items for the right part of the week
Receiving
Use All Your Senses when evaluating fresh seafood:
Receiving Whole Fish
Eyes – Bright, clear and full not sunken into surrounding skin. As the product ages and becomes stale the eyes become cloudy and sunken.
Gills – Red and free from slime. The color of the gills will fade with age from bright red to pink to gray and finally to brown or green.
Odor – There is virtually no odor in fresh fish. Fish should have a ocean fresh mild smell. With increasing age a strong offensive odor develops.
Skin – Shiny, with bright colors. As fish lose freshness their skin colors fade and become less pronounced.
Flesh – Firm elastic and not separating from the bone. As fish ages, the flesh changes color and takes on a dried appearance.
Belly Cavity – Be sure all organs and blood are removed, since they can cause spoilage. Make sure the ribs are clean and intact.
Receiving Fillets/Steaks
Flesh – Fresh cut appearance and firm in texture. There should be no traces of browning or drying out.
Odor – There is virtually no odor in fresh fillets or steaks. Fish should have a ocean fresh mild smell. With increasing age a strong offensive odor develops.
Receiving Shellfish
Clams & Oysters
- Should close when tapped.
- Meat should have a plump appearance.
- Liquid should be creamy in color.
Mussels
- Not all mussels will close when tapped.
- Should have a bright shell.
- Meat should be bright and shiny with a fresh smell.
- Some mussels will contain a beard.
- Green Lips tend to be “lazy” so they may be slower to close.
Receiving and Storing Fresh Fish
Maintaining a clean and organized cooler not only makes it easy to find things, it also enhances the quality of your product.
1. Review your invoice to insure order accuracy and report any discrepancies immediately. Make sure country of origin for each item is correct. Label on item should match bill of lading.
2. Remove product from shipping container (some containers will be used for storage)
3. Drain any liquid or water that might have accumulated, replace any melted ice or ice packs with fresh ice, but be sure the product does not come into direct contact with ice (place ice in bag not directly on product). This should be done daily.
4. Any product being placed in luggers should be iced, dated, labeled and placed in cooler as soon as possible. All fresh seafood should be refrigerated immediately.
Note: Product that sits in its own juice or liquid and is not allowed to drain will have a shorter shelf life.
5. Practice FIFO Rotation – First in First Out
6. Have a system in place to check the temperature of the case, refrigerator and freezer for proper holding temperatures.
7. Keep histamine and allergens segregated from the non-histamine producers to eliminate cross contamination in the case. Example: Tuna should not be touching salmon.
8. High allergens like all crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, shrimp) need to be segregated from low allergens like bivalves (clams, oysters, mussels, scallops) and both from everything else.
Receiving and Storing Fresh Shellfish
1. Review your invoice to insure order accuracy and report any discrepancies immediately. Make sure country of origin for each item is correct. Label on item should match bill of lading.
2. Keep live shellfish in bag/net that it is received in when storing, if the shipping container is in good condition it may be kept in there. Be sure to open the box so that refrigeration can circulate over product, you may have to place some live in lugers (ice bags can be used for shellfish as long as the shell fish is placed on top on the ice or ice packs but the container must be able to drain).
3. Store live product separate from raw and cooked product.
4. Save the shippers shellfish tags. Date tag when received and keep tag with product. Once product is sold place on file in an index card box for 90 days. Dispose of tags after 90 days.
Click Here to learn about Reading Shellfish Tags
5. Place your delivery in the cooler immediately after inspecting the product using the FIFO method.
6. Practice FIFO Rotation – First in First Out
Displaying Fresh Seafood
High allergens like all crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, shrimp) need to be segregated from low allergens like bivalves (clams, oysters, mussels, scallops) and both from everything else.
Labels in the Case – When displaying product, the signs must reflect the proper country of origin and state whether the product is farmed raised
Check in with your Merchandiser for other tips on how to create exciting and enticing seafood displays.