Kitchen helper – seafood safety at Christmas
One of the brilliant things about an Aussie Christmas is being able to enjoy some wonderful fresh seafood. It’s a relaxed way to entertain requiring little cooking or preparation. But you do need to observe some basic food safety rules when serving seafood. Read on to find out more.
Tasmanians love their seafood. Hop onto our Festive Food to Order page to see what’s on offer this year. All your favourites are there: Barilla Bay oysters, Tassie scallops, crays, trout and salmon, and our incredible Crystal Bay and Skull Island prawns from Far North Queensland, as well as Hill Street Kitchen’s seafood pies, curried scallop pies and our famous salmon en croute.
It pays to know food safety and storage rules about seafood, which are a little more stringent than with other foods.
Here are our top tips:
- Double check your fridge temperature is below 5C, and ideally at 3C.
- After purchase, prawns should be kept in an airtight container and kept in the coldest part of the fridge, with the shells left on as long as possible.
- Eat prawns, scallops, crayfish and other fish within three days of purchase.
- Eat opened oysters within 24 hours of purchase, and don’t eat oysters that are dry or sunken in their shell.
- Don’t eat raw fish, opened oysters, prawns, scallops, crayfish or any other seafood if it has been out of the fridge for more than two hours. So keep an eye on the time if you have seafood out on platters, and refrigerate it promptly.
- You can keep fish (whole or filleted) in an ice slurry for optimal freshness – here’s how.
Don’t forget, orders close on December 17 so make sure you have ordered all your seafood for Christmas via our online Christmas Orders.
