THE FISHMONGER
Taking the opportunity to improve:
cold chain guaranteed By: The fishmonger *
The Covid-19 crisis is enabling all governments and businesses to take stock on where they are, determining what is working and how they can consider changes to make them better into the future.
H
andling seafood, wherever you are in the value chain, needs thought, planning and training; yet sadly our industry continues to play ‘Russian roulette’ in many areas. Our environment is constantly changing, our processes are also impacting change, and research is constantly bringing up new issues. Food safety is
AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2020
not an area where you can relax. Constantly whenever the Fishmonger raises such issues with industry members the defense is “we have been in the industry a long time and have never had a problem.” What they fail to recognise is that they are not keeping up with trends and training their staff on the latest knowledge and information relating to food
safety to ensure the consumer is getting the safest product. Just this week The Fishmonger saw a promotion for “sensational sashimi-grade Scallops” and pointed out to the seafood operator that there was no such thing as “sashimi-grade” and would be happy if the operator could direct The Fishmonger to the “sashimi-grade standard.” The reply was “In actual fact the term sashimi-grade is used to refer to fish that has been judged to be eaten raw and these scallops can certainly be eaten raw. In fact, they are best when eaten raw. Sashimi fish is largely determined by its level of freshness. Ready to eat raw products (sushi & sashimi) demand seafood of high quality and are determined by handling & storage methods & cold chain management. When you have combined knowledge of seafood of more than 100 years as our Directors have, you certainly know when seafood is of quality that can be eaten raw.” Mmm…. the Directors could have 500 years of seafood knowledge, but they have no qualifications and what is more important is that their staff know the important processes that need to be adhered to. It can be risky
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