On July 10, 2020, a news story that "the new coronavirus was detected in the outer packaging of frozen South American shrimp in Ecuador" detonated the Internet. Penaeus vannamei, a familiar and unfamiliar aquatic product for the common people, has once again been pushed to the cusp of the storm.
Penaeus vannamei
Scientific name Officinopus vannabin, genus Arthropod phylum, decapoda, shrimp family, shrimp genus. It is native to Central and South America on the eastern coast of the Pacific Ocean, from the northern Mexican state of Sonora to northern Peru.
Penaeus vannamei has strong environmental adaptability, belongs to the tropical shrimp of wide temperature and wide salinity, and can survive in water with 0‰-35‰ salinity, that is to say, seawater and fresh water can survive. The water temperature only needs to be maintained between 15 ° C and 38 ° C. This non-picky growing environment, strong disease resistance, coupled with good taste, processed meat rate of up to 65%, making Penaeus vannamei the world's largest farmed shrimp species. At present, the main breeding countries include China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and other countries.
According to the China Fisheries Yearbook 2019:
2018 Chinese White Shrimp
↓↓↓
It is a well-deserved big country for the cultivation of Penaeus monodon in South America
So why does china import so much White Shrimp from other countries every year?
This is because there are many Chinese, and "prawns" have an irreplaceable position on the table of Chinese, so there is a large gap in the shrimp market. Moreover, China's production areas are deeply plagued by shrimp diseases, and labor costs are rising year by year, resulting in higher farming costs. Many White Shrimp producing countries in South America have targeted this business opportunity and have sought to enter the Chinese market. At present, 22 countries or regions such as Ecuador, Thailand, India, Saudi Arabia and other countries or regions have obtained China's import access qualifications. Penaeus vannamei has become an important part of China's imported aquatic products.
In 2019, Ecuador alone exported 320,000 tons of White Shrimp to China. In terms of market performance, Ecuadorian white shrimp is also quite eye-catching. Especially after the rise of the online shopping economy, Ecuadorian white shrimp has become a well-deserved internet celebrity product.
Traditional production areas such as India, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as emerging production areas such as Saudi Arabia and Peru, have occupied a place in the Chinese market.
At present, the imported Penaeus vannamei in China's market is mainly sold in the form of frozen shrimp, salt frozen shrimp, cooked frozen shrimp and other products.
So, what are the differences between these products? How should consumers choose?
Frozen shrimp
Frozen shrimp is the use of traditional cabinet freezer, relying on shrimp and shrimp surface water to freeze shrimp together, so this shrimp in the market is also called plate frozen shrimp. Frozen shrimp because the whole box is frozen together, must be all thawed before use, if you can not eat at one time and the remaining shrimp is re-frozen, the quality of the shrimp is bound to be greatly affected.
Salt frozen shrimp
Salt frozen shrimp uses low temperature brine (high concentration of brine) to reduce the central temperature of the shrimp to about minus 18 degrees Celsius in a short period of time. The freezing time of salt frozen shrimp is only ten minutes, which is greatly shortened compared with the freezing time of frozen shrimp for more than 7 hours. This effectively reduces the growth rate of ice crystals in the shrimp, avoids the loss of juice during the thawing process, and prevents the loss of flavor and nutrients. Therefore, compared with frozen shrimp, salt frozen shrimp meat has high freshness, good elasticity, no shrinkage, and perfect form after cooking. Moreover, the salt frozen shrimp is frozen separately, and the shrimp is dispersed between the shrimp, which is convenient for consumers to thaw and use on demand.
It is precisely because of these advantages that salt frozen shrimp is more and more favored by people, and the price is higher than that of frozen shrimp. The fly in the ointment is that the salt frozen shrimp has a high salt content due to its own technical characteristics, and if it is handled according to conventional cooking methods, the dishes will be saltier. Therefore, before cooking, you need to wash the salt on the surface of the shrimp with water.
Cooked frozen shrimp
Cooked frozen shrimp, represented by Thai white shrimp, are boiled in boiling water after the shrimp has just been caught and landed, and then frozen. There are also some producers that will straighten the shrimp after cooking, that is, to produce the "straight shrimp" that is favored in online shopping, and the price is also much higher. This cooked and frozen process, which not only locks in the flavor and nutrient content of fresh shrimp, but also does not require the addition of excessive salt, and is the best choice for consumers who like to eat white-burnt shrimp.
Imported White Shrimp enriches our table, complements the source of protein for the Chinese people, and is an important imported product in China. For the news that "the new coronavirus has been detected in the outer packaging of frozen South American shrimp in Ecuador", the public does not have to panic too much. The World Health Organization believes that based on the experience of investigations into previous epidemics caused by coronaviruses, there have been no cases of transmission to humans through food consumption. With the rapid development of the epidemic situation abroad, especially in some countries to resume work with the epidemic, although the risk of cold chain pollution has increased, the General Administration of Customs has also strengthened the source control of imported cold chain food.
Contributed by: Shanghai Customs Import and Export Food Safety Department