In the daily food and dinner, all kinds of aquatic products are often indispensable. Aquatic products not only have the advantages of high protein and low fat, but also contain polyunsaturated fatty acids such as DHA and EPA that are beneficial to brain development and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health, which is an excellent food composition in the daily diet.
But after eating all kinds of seafood and river fresh for so many years, do you have a correct understanding of all kinds of aquatic products? Today we will introduce seven facts about aquatic products.
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The abalone you eat is basically farmed
At present, most of the fresh and chilled abalone that we often buy in China is domestically farmed abalone.
The price of fresh abalone is not high, stir-frying, charcoal grilling, garlic steaming can be. Image: Pixabay
This is not to say that there are no wild abalone in the coastal waters of the country, but the production of wild abalone is far from meeting people's consumption needs. Such a situation can also be seen in China's yellow croaker industry. At the same time, China has imported many foreign abalone, mostly wild, which mainly supplies the high-end market.
New Zealand's black-footed abalone (Haliotis iris), the story about it can be found here. Image: Nick White/Wikimedia
Many of the aquatic products we eat in daily life are not necessarily "wild" and "go to sea on the same day" as claimed by merchants, such as scallops, flower clams, blue crabs, four large fish, Atlantic salmon, sea cucumbers, South American white shrimp, multi-treasure fish, etc., basically from aquaculture. Although these products have wild resources, they are far from meeting consumer demand. Some of these aquatic products belong to the introduction of alien species into domestic aquaculture, and currently only exist in artificially intervened breeding environments.
The random search for aquatic products on the e-commerce platform has many doubts in the publicity.
In turn, there are also many aquatic products that are currently only in the form of wild fishing due to the immaturity of farming technology or the higher cost of farming than fishing, including our common small yellow croaker, striped fish, soft three brothers (octopus, squid, cuttlefish), tuna family (only a small number of bluefin and yellowfin are cultured), various types of pelagic fish (mackerel, saury) and so on. With the development of future aquaculture technology and changes in fishery resources, these aquatic products that used to rely on fishing may gradually enter the aquaculture ranks.
At the moment of the epidemic, many media and institutions are calling on everyone to refuse to eat wild game, and it should be noted here that "wild meat" refers to terrestrial wild animals, and there is currently no evidence that eating wild aquatic products will infect the new crown pneumonia.
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Farmed aquatic products are not necessarily inferior to wild ones
Many people have a deep-seated, hard-to-change idea: that wild aquatic products are better than farming. The anecdotal explanation is this: the activities and feeding conditions of wild aquatic products are better than those of artificial farming, and of course, the quality of the aquatic products is better. Breeding is not only slightly poor in meat quality, but also has a variety of potential irregular breeding operation problems.
The above statement is partially correct. In fact, there are many well-done breeds, not only recognized by the majority of consumers, but even many people eat for a long time and do not know that they are farmed. For example, salmon, abalone and yellow croaker are basically farmed. And some species are difficult to eat wild due to their small resources or high prices.
Large yellow croaker cage farm in Ningde, Fujian Province. Image: Shuqiu Xie / Aquaculture of the Large Yellow Croaker
Culture monitors and controls the various conditions associated with the growth of the target species, from water quality and place of growth to food, excrement and so on. As long as it is responsible, well-behaved and grown in good waters, the quality of aquaculture is not bad. In addition, some breeding environments will also "force" fish to exercise, so not only the quality of the aquatic products is guaranteed, but the taste is not bad.
At present, the supply of aquaculture in China has supported half of china's aquatic product supply, ranking first in the world.
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Frozen aquatic products are no worse than fresh ones
For example, the most common example: even the various types of sushi and sashimi you eat at high-end Japanese food restaurants are basically sashimi that are frozen and cut after the fish is melted, but you will not feel that the ingredients are not fresh.
Similarly, aquatic products sold by major e-commerce platforms, especially imported aquatic products, are mostly in the form of frozen products.
The ship is equipped with ultra-low temperature (-60 ° C) freezing equipment, which can quickly freeze the tuna caught on board before it dies. Image: Chris Price/flick
If fresh treated aquatic products can be rapidly frozen, and then kept at a low enough temperature to transport and sell, their quality will not be worse than fresh. This is due to sufficient low temperature and appropriate pretreatment, which inhibits the formation and accumulation of spoilage that affects the freshness of the ingredients, and the freezing and low temperature can maintain the integrity of fish meat cells and not be destroyed.
But what is the reason that many frozen products have a poor taste? This is due to the fact that during the transportation process, the frozen product loses temperature and then freezes back, which will lead to poor quality; or the freshness of the aquatic products selected by the manufacturer is relatively poor before freezing, and the quality after freezing is naturally poor.
We also have a knack for defrosting aquatic products. Natural thawing at room temperature can cause the loss of intracellular fluid from fish, that is, the loss of juice, which in turn affects taste and nutrition. The method of "low temperature thawing" can be used: frozen aquatic products are placed in the refrigerator to thaw, which can maximize freshness and food hygiene.
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The "Li ghost" in aquatic products is invincible
This is something that people in the industry are familiar with, not only reflected in the lack of professional knowledge of the counter sales staff, even many consumers who buy it can not recognize all kinds of fish, in addition, different aquatic products in different regions still have common names, local names and other further complications. Such a situation is not only in our common local fresh aquatic products, but also in the supermarket frozen products are often marked with various general common names, and even imported aquatic products can not be avoided in many cases.
For example, a common product labeled "cod" actually corresponds to a variety of fish. In addition, there are various types of snake mackerel (oil fish) such as heterogeneous snake mackerel called platinum tuna (this name was originally the common name of albacore tuna, because of its white flesh) or cod, basa fish fillet is called dragon lily (tongue fish) fillet, rainbow trout is called salmon (the domestic "Raw Salmon Group Standards" classify rainbow trout as salmon, but there is a great controversy about this standard), Fushou snail pretending to be a field snail, freshwater white pomfret (short-covered giant fat carp) counterfeit marine pomfret (gray pomfret) and so on.
The real body of the basha fish is the Pangasius bocourti of the genus Pangasius. Image: Staticd/Wikimedia
Tongue rays refer to a class of benthic fish in the family Cynoglossidae, pictured solea solea. Image: Hans Hillewaert /Wikime
Because the commercially available Longli fish fillets and Basa fish fillets are similar in appearance, and the price of longli fish is more expensive, some unscrupulous merchants use basa fish fillets to impersonate Longli fish fillets.
Left: Dragon Fish Fillet; Right: Basa Fish Fillet. The two types of fillets look very similar and are difficult to distinguish. Image: Indiamart
Most of these "Li Ghost" aquatic products are low in price, hoping to increase the selling price. Consumers should remember to distinguish more, or find big brands and trusted merchants to buy, do not be greedy.
For common domestic aquatic products, we can use the now developed AI technology (such as a variety of fish recognition mini programs, the accuracy of many related programs is also being optimized and improved accordingly) and so on to obtain relevant correct understanding (interstitial advertising: more than reading the species calendar article can also be! ）。 Imported aquatic products are mostly marked with the Latin name of the species, and their real body can be found by searching on the Internet.
I also hope that in the future, the state will strengthen the management of such labels and standardize the relevant titles.
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The logo on the package provides important information
We can sometimes see various logos on the outer packaging of aquatic products, but we do not know their meaning. In addition to the necessary SC food production license (which began to replace the original QS certification in 2015), here are a few more common marks on aquatic products.
Pollution-free agricultural products
Refers to the production process in line with pollution-free standards and specifications, toxic and harmful substance residues controlled within the scope of food safety and quality permitted, certified products (aquatic products).
At present, the state has stopped the certification of pollution-free agricultural products, on the one hand, there are many problems in its development status, on the other hand, the country is preparing to introduce new alternative products.
Organic food
It is a kind of natural, environmentally friendly and safe food. Organic products have made corresponding specifications for additives, feeds, etc. used in production, and the use of most fishing drugs and synthetic growth promoters is prohibited in the breeding process. At the same time, the breeding of genetically modified or hormone-induced aquatic organisms is prohibited, and a series of norms are made in the production and transportation process.
At present, there are not many types of aquatic products that have obtained organic certification in China.
Aquaculture aquatic products certification
For example, BAP (Best Aquaculture Practices) and ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) certification means that the aquatic product is a traceable aquatic product that is cultured and produced in accordance with sustainable standards and responsible regulations.
Certification of wild fishing aquatic products
For wild aquatic products, there are MSC (Marine Stewardship Council, Marine Stewardship Council) certification, indicating that the aquatic product is produced in accordance with sustainable standards, in accordance with laws and regulations and fully traceable aquatic products.
National Geographical Indications Protected Products
Refers to a product produced in a specific region, with quality, reputation or other characteristics essentially depending on the natural and human factors of the place of origin, and is approved to be named after a geographical name.
Such labels are mostly used for specialty aquatic products in a certain region.
At present, there are other rare categories of aquatic product logos on the market, and only the most common types are introduced here.
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Eating fish really needs to look at the seasons
This is the truth summed up by the ancients, people think that many aquatic products are most suitable for eating at a specific time, because at this time they are the most fat and plump, or the best growth state. In other seasons, either due to the growth stage of the aquatic products themselves, the taste will be worse, or the amount that can be captured is smaller. The famous "fishing proverb" in the Chaoshan area is the truth.
Chaoshan fishing proverb:
Bring fish to see the lights in the first month, and only fake golden dragons in the spring of February.
In March, Huang was only covered in flesh, and in April, Balang was scaleless.
In May, good fish and mackerel are good, and in June the sand tip is on the battlefield.
In July, the red-maned wears a red jacket, and in August the red fish is used as a bride.
In September, the red crab has a belly cream, and in October the winter grub is hairless.
In November, ink buckets close the smoke screen, and in December lobsters hold battle knives.
The famous Balang fish (blue round fish) in the Chaoshan area. Image: Taste good / Bean fruit delicacy
There are more or less similar folk rumors about the purchase of aquatic products in various coastal areas of China, which are mostly derived from local fishing aquatic products, which is a summary of the experience of the ancients for many years. Moreover, the fishing proverb is not the only one in China, and the neighboring country of Japan has a similar folk proverb. Although common fish species can be bought all year round in today's developed world, it is still the most delicious "Xunyu fish". Enjoy tasting local seasonal aquatic products with a fishing proverb.
However, due to the depletion of resources, the amount of fish caught in some seasons has become scarce. In the future marine conservation, if we can avoid the premature use of such aquatic products in the management, we can also make them appear to consumers in a better "posture" when they appear in season.
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Your consumption behavior affects the future of marine life
Marine resources are not inexhaustible and inexhaustible, and some consumption behaviors are not conducive to marine life getting a chance to breathe. For example, buying small, inexpensive seafood on the market; spending large prices to pursue rare sea fish species; buying aquatic products suspected of being poached during the fishing moratorium; buying aquatic products that are unknown on the street and most likely illegally caught or farmed; one-sidedly pursuing large individual aquatic products; and excessively pursuing the selected aquatic products must be pure wild.
Pictured here is a seafood consumption guide made by WWF. Image: WWF
Many agencies have launched similar seafood consumption guidelines to help consumers choose more sustainable, eco-friendly aquatic products.
These irrational purchasing behaviors will transmit such consumer demand to the upstream production end, disguised as supporting unsustainable marine fishing or aquaculture.
For example, although small individual seafood is cheap, if the purchase of such aquatic products is supported for a long time, the relevant demand will be transmitted to the fishermen, which in turn will lead to fishermen catching more immature marine life. The one-sided pursuit of wild and rare aquatic products will also allow many fishermen to selectively capture these species, further reducing the original rare wild fishery resources.
The conservation of marine resources is indispensable to the joint participation of you and me, and our consumption behavior can also affect the future of the ocean.
Transferred from: Species calendar