How Do You Recognize Spoiled Fish?

There are many ways to store and transport fish, with the aim of keeping the fish fresher for longer. However, sometimes these methods don’t work. That’s why you need to know how to spot spoiled fish.

Fish is one of our most important foods. On the one hand because of its high nutritional value, on the other because fish is easily digestible.

Most people choose convenience when buying fish. They want filleted and decapitated fish. You can easily eat this fish without checking whether the fish is fresh or not. This is because this fish is usually sold frozen.

How do you recognize spoiled fish?

• Odor.  Spoiled fish smells rancid. Sometimes it even smells like ammonia.
• Skin.  The fish has a very soft skin, which easily detaches from the scales and flesh.
• Eyes.  The fish has sunken eyes, cloudy corneas and gray pupils. As if the fish has cataracts.
• Gills.  The gills lie directly behind the head and are yellowed or gray in color.
• guts.  These are the first to be affected by aging: you will see that the fish is swollen or limp and sunken.

How do you recognize fish in good condition?

• Odor.  Fresh fish smells like seaweed and the sea and still has all its nutrients.
• Skin.  The skin of fresh fish is brightly colored, the scales hard and shiny.
• Eyes.  Fresh fish will have excellent eyes, with black, glittering pupils.
• Gills.  The gills are pink or red, depending on the fish species, and otherwise clean, clear and not slimy.
• guts.  The flesh is firm and does not feel slippery.

Tips to avoid unwanted surprises

In order not to have to throw the fish away, we recommend preparing it at the latest a few days after buying it in the supermarket.

If this is not possible, you can freeze the fish. This guarantees that the fish has a longer shelf life. Freezing preserves the nutrients and reduces the risk of food poisoning.

• In general, products that have been frozen should not remain thawed for more than two days. Freezing again is never recommended.
• If you discover fish that has been thawed by a power outage, it’s safest to throw the fish away.
• Storing fish in the refrigerator or freezer may prevent bacteria from multiplying, but it does not kill them. This speeds up the decomposition process.

The moisture content

When preparing fish, check carefully whether there is frozen moisture around the fish or not. If the bag or container with fish contains a lot of moisture, there may have been a power failure that caused the fish to thaw in the meantime.

Even if everything seems fine, still be careful. Defrost the fish, look and smell it.

• Does the fish look normal and does it smell strange? Then you can eat it safely.
• If not, eating this fish is probably not a good idea.

After all, when you take your first bite, you immediately know whether it is spoiled fish or not. If it doesn’t taste sour, then it’s okay. Your taste buds know immediately when something is not right. Is everything all right? Then go ahead and enjoy your meal!