SELECTING AND

STORING

SEAFOOD

Unlocking of difficulties:

• Seafood - any sea animal or seaweed that is served as food.

• Specks - small spots

• Visceral - internal organs

• Eviscerated - to remove the essential parts

• Thorax - the part of the body between the neck and the

abdomen

Types of Sea food

Vertebrate or Finfish

Shellfish

Crustaceans Cephalopods Mollusks

Univalves Bivalves

Types of Seafood

1. Vertebrate or finfish.

•These are fishes that has a back bone and its

flesh is edible.

•These are bangus, bisugo, tilapia, dalag, catfish

and other fresh water fish.

2. Shellfish. Shellfish can be classified into:

crustaceans, mollusks and cephalopods.

a.Crustaceans are shellfishes with hard shells over

the back of the body and along the claws but

have softer shells covering the lower part of

the body and legs. Ex. Crabs, lobster and

shrimps.

b. Mollusks. There are two types of mollusks:

the univalves with only one shell and bivalves

with two shells. Example of univalve is:

kuhol while bivalves are clams (kabibi, tulya),

oysters (talaba) and mussels (tahong).

•Cephalopods have reduced internal

shell. Squid, cuttlefish and octopus

belong to this classification.

SELECTION AND BUYING OF FISH AND SHELLFISH

Characteristics of fresh Fish:

• Fresh fish has no foul odor.

• The eyes are clear, full and bright, not dull and sunken.

• Gills are bright red.

• The flesh is firm and elastic.

• Skin is shiny with scales intact.

• Fish is covered with a natural lime, the odor and amount of which are the characteristics of the species.

• Abdomen and belly walls are intact and free from discoloration.

Shellfish• Fresh shellfish such as crabs, talangka, mussels, oysters, snails, lobsters and shrimps, must be

bought alive.

• Fresh crabs should have firm joints that are stiff when bent, and they should be heavy for

their size.

• Fresh lobsters should have dark brownish green color with orange specks and bright eyes

and should be heavy for their size.

• Fresh oysters are difficult to open and the meat should have clear creamy color.

• Live clams should have their shells tightly closed.

• Fresh shrimps should have their head intact, their meat firm, and with no objectionable odor.

They are somewhat translucent and not with black or orange color.

Market Forms of FishLive Fish

There are fishes which can be marketed

alive because they live long after catch. Good

examples of these are dalag, hito and tilapia.

Whole or round fish

Most fresh fish is distributed in local

market fish stalls as whole or round fish.

Shortly after catch, fish is chilled in ice to

prevent spoilage.

Drawn fish

This is a whole fish with the entrails

removed. Preparation for cooking

involves scaling and cutting as needed.

Most fish in modern supermarkets are

available in this form.

Dressed fish

Dressed fish has been scaled and

eviscerated. Often the head, tail and fins are

also removed.

Deboned

This is the form most convenient in the

case of bangus. The deboned bangus is sold

frozen often times marinated and ready-to-

cook.

SteaksThese are cross section slices of dressed large

fishes. A portion of the backbone is usually the

only in a fish steak. Steaks which are half to two

thirds of an inch thick are usually best. Steaks cut

away from visceral cavity are solid slices and are

preferred by discrimination of consumers.

Sticks

These are fillets or steaks cut further

into smaller uniform pieces like sticks.

They are usually breaded and frozen.

Flaked

Fish meat separated from the whole

fish is called flaked fish. Labahita is

commonly made into flaked fish.

Market Forms of Shellfish

Live

Crabs, clams, mussels, oysters, snails and lobsters should be alive if purchased in the shell except for boiled crabs and lobsters. Ideally, shrimps should also be marketed alive.

Whole

Most shrimps marketed locally are whole.

Shucked

These are bivalves or mollusks which have been

removed from the shell. Oysters, clams and

scallops may be sold in this form; Fresh shucked

oysters have a translucent appearance. They

become opaque with standing.

Headless•Most shrimps, prawns and lobsters for exports are

marketed in the headless form, the head and thorax are

removed.

•The head is removed mainly because it is the main

source of bacterial spoilage during transport and also

because it does not appeal to most foreign palates.

Cooked Shellfish

Shrimps, crabs and lobsters may be cooked

in the shell prior to marketing.

Cooked Meat

The meat of shrimps, crabs and lobsters may be marketed cooked, usually in cans.

Handling, Storing and Thawing Fish

• Fish and fishery products are transported in fishing boats

or commercial ships.

• Higher value fishery products like shrimps and prawns and

special fish varieties especially those intended for restaurants

and other institutional food service establishments may be

transported by air.

•Land transportation for large quantities

can be in open truck but the most

common means of transporting up to

1000 kg is by owner type jeepneys.

• Insulated fish boxes or tubs are arrangedon platforms as the rear end of vehicle.

• The method of handling and transport of fish as

practiced may not always be for keeping the fish at

optimum quality.

• But while both fisherman and trader are aware of

this, cost considerations always prevail.

• Bigger fish operators, however, make sure that

proper holding temperature of not more than 4C

can be achieved with adequate icing and true

insulated fish boxes.

• A water-soluble synthetic co-polymer with

cold-retention ability is used to keep fish

frozen during transport.

• The material is initially a powder that

becomes a gel when water is added.

• The resulting gel is frozen at 40 to 30C before

using. The fish is placed between bags of this

frozen gel.

• The fish to be packed has to be cooled down first

because the gel cannot cool fish at ambient

temperature but it can maintain a cold temperature

that will avoid thawing of an already frozen fish.

• The advantage of the gel pack is that it does not

drip like ice so it is particularly suitable for air

transport.

• The fish to be packed has to be cooled down

first because the gel cannot cool fish at

ambient temperature but it can maintain a

cold temperature that will avoid thawing of an

already frozen fish.

• The advantage of the gel pack is that it does

not drip like ice so it is particularly suitable for

air transport.

ProductRefrigerator

(35-40F)Freezer ( 0o )

Fresh water fish, cleaned

Fillets

Steaks

Cooked fish

Smoked fish

Canned fish

Clams, oyster (shucked)

Crabs

Shrimps

3 – 5 days

2 – 3 days

3 – 5 days

3 – 4 days

1 – 2 weeks

1 day

7 – 9 days

7 days

3 – 5 days

6 – 9 months

4 – 6 months

2 months

1 month

4 – 5 weeks

NR

3 – 4 months

2 months

6 – 12 months

Storage Times for Seafood