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Sea locals reveal the secret to buying fresh seafood: look for this sign to choose the best catch and avoid fraud.

When bringing seafood to the mainland and selling it in the city, most of the time it needs to be frozen, but many people also add urea and bleach to preserve the fish longer and prevent it from spoiling.

Administrator

20 January, 2024

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Seafood is a popular dish that many people love because it is rich in nutrients, iodine, calcium, protein… However, most seafood is frozen. But the market information, many people marinate seafood with urea, han the… make many people worry. Moreover, the risk of heavy metal contamination in fish is also high. So when buying fish, housewives should pay attention to the following things to choose safe fish:

Distinguish toxic fish by appearance: Toxic fish usually have a large head and a small body. This type of fish often has rough scales, with signs of excessive peeling. The fish body appears black spots that look blotchy, many of which are black all over. Unfresh fish is prone to scale loss, has tender flesh, sunken eyes. Fresh fish has scales attached tightly to the body, shiny, without mucus, without odor. While rotten fish has dull fins, easily peeled off the fish body, not shiny, and has an odor.

Look at the eyes and gills of the fish: When choosing fish, you should look at the eyes and gills. Clear eyes, red gills indicate fresh fish, while clouded eyes indicate fish that has been left for a long time. However, if the fish is marinated with urea, the eyes will still be clear, but the gills will be abnormal and when pressed on the fish body, the flesh will feel soft, not elastic. Fresh fish, not marinated with urea, has clear eyes, red gills at the same time when pressed, the flesh feels elastic, firm.

Observe the fish’s anus: If the fish is still fresh, the anus will have a pale color and recede deeply inside the body and the fish’s belly is flat. While rotten fish, the anus protrudes out, has a pink or purplish-red color, and the fish’s belly is swollen.

Look at the fish’s mouth: Fresh fish has closed mouths, while fish that has been left for a long time will have slightly open mouths. For frozen seafood that has been stored for too long or has storage problems, the fish’s teeth are usually loose. You can also press your finger into the fish’s flesh to test, fresh fish flesh will be firm, elastic, without any marks.

Fish mucus: Choose seafood that still has mucus. If the fish looks fresh but has no mucus, it may have been treated with chemicals and left for too long.

Smell: Seafood will have a fishy odor. But when marinated with urea, they will have a rotten smell instead of just fishy. Let’s choose fresh and delicious seafood for housewives.

When cooking, if you find that the fish is still fresh, when cooked, the flesh will be firm and fragrant, without a strong smell of urea that fills the house and the neighborhood. If the fish is toxic, it will have a strong rotten smell, the fish flesh will be spoiled. When cooking, if you see black froth with a strange smell, it means that the fish has been marinated with han the or contaminated with harmful chemicals and should be thrown away without eating.