Rumor: The dragon fish sold in the usual supermarket is actually a basa fish, which is greatly harmful to the human body!
Is this true?
We looked up some information and found that this rumor is not entirely empty.
Let's start with these two fish separately.
The scientific name of the dragon fish is tongue fish, which is a very high-quality edible marine fish.
"There is a lama in the south, holding five pounds of fish in his hand" The fish in the "whip" refers to the dragon fish.
Because the mouth is crooked and the body is flattened, like a long tongue, it is also known as the "tongue fish".
Dragon fish has a high meat yield and a delicate taste without small spines, which is very suitable for babies, the elderly and people who do not spit thorns.
It can also be processed into fish fillet, which is easier to cook.
The basa fish is different from the dragon fish in that it is a type of freshwater catfish.
Not only are the types different, but their shapes are also very different.
Nearly 90% of the basha fish in the market come from Southeast Asian countries, the most typical of which is Vietnam.
Compared with the dragon fish, the basa fish has a wide range of food, easy to raise, fast growth and high yield, which leads to its price being much lower than that of the dragon fish.
With the advantages of less thorny meat, low price and good cooking, basa fish has become the main source of raw materials for dishes such as fish hot pot, boiled fish, and sauerkraut fish.
The ingredients for these dishes are basa fish
We have compared the prices of the common bara and dragon fish on the market for your reference:
In addition to the cost point of view, the high water content of basa fish is also the main factor leading to its low price.
Commercially available basa fish are basically frozen fillets, which are usually coated with an "ice coat" on the surface to preserve freshness.
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Basha fish exported to China are usually divided into original packaging products and non-original packaging products.
After the non-original packaging products enter China, they are generally processed by some foundry, including increasing ice content, rolling and water retention treatment.
Wherein the water retention treatment, including but not limited to the addition of water retaining agents.
There is no problem with these operations, the problem is that the water content of the common bara fish on the market is too much.
According to industry insiders, the weight of the basa fish fillet after retaining water can even increase by 50-80%.
We visited the Hangzhou Xinnongdu Seafood Market and saw two prices of basa fish:
One sells for 20 yuan / kg
One sells for 10 yuan / kg (ice packing rate is a little higher)
The quality of the two is similar, and the difference in price is basically folded back by adding water.
We also bought some basha fish by the way and measured the water content:
482.0 g before thawing
337.5 g after thawing
In other words, spend 20 yuan to buy 1 pound of fish fillets, of which 3 or 2 more are water.
Then the actual price of fish fillets should be 28 yuan / catty.
Since the appearance and price of the two are so different, why is the saying that "the original name of the dragon fish is basa fish"? We found some answers.
After peeling and deboning the basa/arowana, it is very similar in terms of flesh color and appearance, and it is difficult to distinguish.
Due to the huge price gap and the similarity of meat quality, many merchants will use basa fish to impersonate "dragon fish".
Most of the longli fish fillets we buy in supermarkets and aquatic markets come from basa fish.
If you enter "Dragon Fish" on some fresh e-commerce platforms, there will be a lot of basa fish-related products, and you will also see the words "Freshwater Dragon Fish" and "Also known as Dragon Fish".
We tried to consult customer service on a fresh platform, and the answer was that the two were the same kind of fish...
Dragon fish are marine fish that do not require additional water retention after being caught ashore.
The basha fish is a freshwater fish that needs to retain water after being caught ashore, and phosphate is its most commonly used water retention agent.
Studies have reported that the excess rate of phosphate in basa fillet is 30%.
Literature screenshots
There are also studies in the United States that show:
Phosphate is widely used as a water retention agent in food processing, resulting in an increase in phosphorus intake by about 1000 mg/day.
Phosphorus and calcium are both essential elements and there is a balance between them. When calcium intake is less than 400 mg per day, excessive phosphorus intake has a greater impact on calcium absorption.
That is, if the intake of phosphorus in the diet exceeds the standard, it will lead to a decrease in the body's absorption of calcium.
In order to verify the phosphate content of basa fish, we also purchased samples from some common fresh platforms to test their phosphate content. According to the "GB 2760-2014 Standard for the Use of Food Additives", the amount of phosphate added to food shall not exceed 5g/kg.
The test results are as follows:
In this way, these 5 types of basa fish have detected phosphate, but fortunately the content is within the standard range. This amount does not have much effect on adults.
However, considering that the baby's gastrointestinal digestion ability is not perfect, and the baby's bone growth needs, we are not recommended for babies to eat basa fish fillet.
In addition, in terms of protein and fatty acid content, the nutritional value of barcass fish is far inferior to that of longli fish:
The protein content is only half that of the longli fish, which is also significantly lower than that of common freshwater fish Although the fat content is not high, the content of unsaturated fatty acids (dha, epa, etc.) in freshwater fish is much lower than that of marine fish
So taking the basha fish to impersonate the merchant of the dragon fish, but it is really a bit unkind.
If it is for the baby to eat, we recommend that parents choose the dragon fish. If you think that the dragon carp is too expensive, you can choose a more expensive grass carp for your baby, or a perch and mandarin fish with fewer spines.
1. Basha fish and dragon fish are two kinds of fish.
2. The bara fish purchased by formal means is not much harmful to the human body, but the nutritional value is far less than that of longli fish.
Adults in order to "thorn less meat more", eat and eat, children recommend or choose more nutritious dragon fish.
3. If you think the dragon carp is too expensive, you can choose a more inexpensive grass carp for your baby, or a sea bass and mandarin fish with fewer spines.
4. When buying basa fish, do not only look at the price, but look at the thickness of the ice coat, you can pay attention to the net content mark outside the product packaging.
Considering that some small partners are not specially purchased basa fish, but are misled by merchants and mistakenly regard it as dragon fish.
So we have listed some methods of discernment for your reference:
1. ratio price
The most intuitive difference between the two is the price. The unit price of dragon fish is basically more than 50 yuan / catty, if you encounter an outrageous low price, you can basically conclude that it is a basa fish.
2. Check the packaging
If the packaging is marked with "basa fish", the words "cabasa" or "basa" in English, or the origin is Vietnam, it can be considered as basa fish.
We should also be careful of individual black-hearted merchants, although the name of the package is marked as "Dragon Fish", but the ingredient is "Basha Fish".
3. Taste the taste
Dragon fish is more delicious in taste and has a tough and elastic meat that is suitable for almost all cooking methods.
Basha fish fillet is tender in taste and has some earthy smell.
4. Buy whole fish
The most reliable way to come: directly buy the whole dragon fish without peeling, so that you will definitely not buy "fake fish"!