THE GROCERY STORE

The nose knows when your seafood isn’t fresh*

Here’s how to give your customers a positive sensory experience

By Michael Bavota

Good-looking fresh seafood may catch your customers’ eye, but their noses are what make the final determination about whether to buy your fish.

If they get a whiff of aging fish the minute they walk into your department, chances are they’ll opt instead for hamburger that night.

Consumers will make a sensory evaluation of the freshness and wholesomeness of your seafood. You want to make sure that their senses are transmitting positive messages.

To do that, you have to keep your department odor-free, which means keeping bacteria under control. But to understand how to avoid fish odors, you must first understand and address the factors that cause them.

The natural smell

Seafood, like all animal-based food products, has an odor characteristic of its environment. But seafood that is handled properly and in excellent condition should not have an unpleasant odor.

It should have either an almost neutral smell or a salty, high-tide seashore smell. Strong low-tide odors or traces of ammonia are immediate signs that the fish is old and possibly decomposed.

The first step in avoiding offensive odors is to purchase seafood that is as fresh as possible. If your program also incorporates frozen product that you thaw at the store, make sure that it is of high quality and is thawed under refrigeration. Never allow frozen product to thaw at room temperature.

In addition to starting with good fish, you must also observe good sanitation procedures to reduce the chances of spoilage and contamination later.

The single most common cause of spoilage and related odor is bacteria. There are two types of bacteria that every food operator needs to know about and understand: spoilage bacteria, which causes food to taste bad, and disease-causing bacterial agents called pathogens.

While it is nearly impossible to handle food in a "bacteria-free" environment, working clean and being clean will keep bacteria levels as low as possible. A rigorous cleaning schedule, along with good temperature controls, can prolong shelf life and ensure a safe seafood product for your customers. Make everyone in the seafood department realize the consequences of disregarding safe handling rules; a simple slip can result in disaster.

Let’s say a seafood product is contaminated by a pathogen (for example, an associate sneezes on his or her hands and then touches the food).

It’s then left unrefrigerated in the danger zone – 45 to 140 degrees F – for four hours or more. The infectious bacteria will multiply enough to cause illness if the food is then consumed.

Properly and frequently washing hands when handling food helps eliminate bacteria. This requires soap and hot water. A good rule of thumb is to scrub for as long as it takes to recite the alphabet.

The term "clean" means visibly free of dirt or pollution. Scrubbing with a food-grade detergent and de-greaser is all that is needed to make a work surface clean. Applying a sanitizing agent after cleaning the surface knocks bacteria down to an acceptable level.

The routine cleaning schedule presented here offers guidelines for keeping your seafood operation odor free, clean and safe.

If you adhere faithfully to this schedule, you’ll keep bacteria – and odors – under control.

Routine equipment-cleaning schedule

Continuously, throughout the day, clean:

· utensils and knives

·sink

·cutting blocks and tabletops

·glass in displays (showcase and lobster tank)

·scales and wrapping station

Also remember to:

·change hand dips

·sanitize floors in work area

·remove trash (to keep odors down)

At end of each shift or daily, clean:

·steamer and pans

·floors (work area and cooler)

·drains

·price tags

·food-storage containers

·trash cans

Weekly, or as needed, clean:

·cooler storage racks and dollies

·ice-machine door, shovel and chute

·walls

·bug zapper (unplug first)

·display case (two or three times weekly, if possible)

·algae from lobster-tank glass; perform routine maintenance

per owner's manual (change filters and carbon, add water

and salt, etc.)

Monthly, clean:

·light fixtures

·fan guards

·overhead fan units and condenser drip pans

Michael Bavota is seafood director for Program Sales & Marketing in Tampa, FL.