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Experts recommend one or two meals with fish per week. When shopping, sustainability and ecological aspects such as overfishing should be taken into account. The goods should also be fresh. There are certain characteristics that can be used to determine whether the fish is fresh.
Fish is actually considered healthy, as it provides important omega-3 fatty acids and trace elements such as iodine and selenium. However, raw fish is a perishable food and has a very limited shelf life, which also poses a health risk. The South Tyrol Consumer Center explains in a press release how to recognize fresh fish.
Pay attention to sustainability
Regular consumption of fish – especially fatty fish – brings various health benefits.
It can reduce the risk of fatal heart attacks, ischemic strokes and lipid metabolism disorders. The latter is due to the fact that regular fish consumption reduces the triglyceride concentration in the blood and increases the HDL cholesterol concentration.
The German Nutrition Society (DGE) recommends one to two portions of fish per week, including 70 grams of fatty sea fish such as salmon, mackerel or herring.
Since more and more fish stocks are affected by overfishing worldwide, the DGE advises that when buying fish, you should pay attention to a recognized sustainable origin. A conscious selection can support fisheries that preserve stocks and are environmentally friendly. And the goods should be fresh.
Recognizing fresh fish
Whether fish is still fresh can be determined by certain characteristics: its appearance, its smell and its consistency.
Appearance: The fins of fresh fish are undamaged, not sticky and not dry. The scales are shiny and covered with a clear layer of mucus. When the fish is gutted, the blood residue on the cut surfaces is bright red.
Fresh fish also has bulging, clear, shiny eyes and bright red, moist, shiny gills. Milky mucus, dark, brown or dried cut surfaces, sunken, cloudy eyes and slimy, yellow or brown gill laminas indicate that the fish is no longer fresh.
If the gills are completely missing, this may be an indication that the lack of freshness is being concealed by cutting off the gills.
Smell: Very fresh fish smells almost neutral and, depending on its origin, only slightly of salt water, pond or algae. The best way to check the smell is to look at the gills, because “fish stinks from the head”.
The more intense the smell, the older the product. Spoiled fish smells rotten, pungent (ammonia!), “fishy” and like cabbage.
“Fish with an unpleasant smell should no longer be eaten, even if it is thoroughly cooked,” warns Silke Raffeiner, nutrition expert at the South Tyrol Consumer Center.
The fishy, pungent smell is caused by the compound trimethylamine, which is produced in cold-water fish through bacterial degradation. In addition, after a fish dies, the enzymatic degradation of proteins begins, which also produces carcassine, which smells of decay.
Consistency: Fresh fish has firm, elastic flesh. If you press briefly but firmly on the skin of the fish with a finger, no dent should remain. If the fish is stiff, hard and bent, this is also a sign of freshness. Rigor mortis only lasts a few hours, after which the flesh becomes softer and more elastic again.
After shopping, fresh fish should be put in the fridge immediately and should ideally be prepared the same day or the following day at the latest. Fresh lemon, coffee powder or toothpaste can help to remove the fishy smell from the cook's hands. (ad)