With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I know some of you are planning a homemade sushi dinner. Whether this is your first time or you’re a seasoned pro, making sushi at home can be simple, fun, and rewarding. I’ve written before on how to make sushi rolls and Adrianna recently did a post on temaki, but the question I get asked the most is some version of “how do I know if the fish at my store is safe to eat raw?”. The term “sushi-grade” is often tossed around to imply some level of freshness, but in the US, there’s no regulation around the use of the phrase, so it can be used to describe anything. That said, most stores aren’t in the business of getting their customers sick, so they usually reserve the label for their freshest fish. Unfortunately, just because it’s fresh doesn’t mean it’s safe to eat raw. Some fish, such as salmon, contain parasites that will make you sick unless they’ve been destroyed. Another potential problem is cross-contamination.

This happens when “sushi-grade” fish gets cut on the same cutting board or using the same knife or handled with the same gloves as non-sushi-grade fish. If your fishmonger is storing unwrapped sushi-grade fish in the same refrigerated case as non-sushi-grade fish, this should be a big red flag. For fish that contain parasites, the FDA provides guidance under their Parasite Destruction Guarantee. This states in part that fish intended to be consumed raw must be “frozen and stored at a temperature of -20°C (-4°F) or below for a minimum of 168 hours (7 days)”. Cross contamination is a bigger issue. Because most stores don’t sell a high enough volume of fish intended to be eaten raw, they don’t maintain a separate space for handling their “sushi-grade” fish. What’s worse, because tuna is such a large fish, most stores don’t deal with whole tuna, they buy them pre-filleted, which means you have to take into consideration not only the stores handling of the fish, but their supplier’s handling of the fish as well.

Ultimately, what it comes down to is how much you trust your fishmonger to understand the best practices for handling fish meant to be consumed raw, and how much they trust their suppliers to hold the same standards. Here are a few things to remember when buying fish to ensure you have a safe and delicious sushi-dinner: Observe and see for yourself whether they’re cutting their sushi-grade fish on the same cutting board as their other fish, without changing gloves or disinfecting their knife and board first. Ask whether they fillet the fish you’re looking to buy themselves, or if they’re getting them pre-filleted. If you are buying salmon, ask if they can produce logs that show the times and temperatures that the fish was frozen. If you can’t find a local place you can trust with raw fish, why not try filling your sushi with vegetables, cooked fish, or even meat. California Rolls and Caterpillar Rolls may not be traditional, but that doesn’t make them any less delicious!

For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blog in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marc’s been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.sushi seaweed sheet crosswordSanta Monica Seafood has hundreds of boutique restaurant and retail clients who understand that their customers demand quality seafood that is safe, delicious, traceable, and locally-sourced whenever possible.mori sushi menu sugar land We have a LOT of seafood. jiro dreams of sushi hawaiiSeriously… a REALLY big selection of seafood.jiro dreams of sushi egg

We have over 600 different seafood and shellfish products AVAILABLE DAILY. We’re not talking about special orders. We’re talking about seafood that we can have at your door tomorrow.We don’t claim to always have the lowest price. But we have the best VALUE when you consider taste, freshness, safety, and sustainability. Seriously Committed to Seafood Sustainability.When you’ve been doing something you love for 75 years, it makes you care about the future. As a result, we’ve led the way on many fronts: We were the first seafood distributor to enter into a formal partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium; working with them to apply their rankings to our inventory. Santa Monica Seafood is Southern California’s full-service fresh and frozen seafood processor and distributor since 1939. We offer a wide range of services and have well-trained sales and customer service staff available to handle all your seafood needs. We deliver six days a week in refrigerated trucks to California, Las Vegas, NV and the Phoenix, AZ region.

Santa Monica Seafood’s mission is to provide the highest quality and selection of seafood products at fair and reasonable prices while recognizing the importance of conservation and maintenance of a healthy environment. Current SpecialsWeekly Market Report | January 5th, 2017Chef Jesse Hansen Log in to place your order Browse our Seafood Product Guide Check out our current specialsSustainability Get the Dockside Report Market Watch Update First in Food Safety We are the first and only seafood company in the United States to achieve the internationally recognized FSSC 22000 certification on our food safety systems. This certification guarantees you are buying from a company with the best food manufacturing systems in the world, that our products consistently meet all quality, safety and labeling requirements, and that we have greater consistency and tracability of our products… of 13resultsDidn't find what you were looking for?magnifying glassLide Seafood MarketConvenient and respectableThis store is known for the small-town environment.

A very friendly group of individuals. I recently just moved to the North Area and had trouble finding a decent Live Seafood and Live bait shop to go to. Until I found this store. There is no additional charge for fish cleaning. I must say I just enjoy being around. I sometime stop by just to by a drink and say Hi. Very respectable people and their pricing is very decent. Lide Seafood MarketDecent and FriendlyThis is a family own business. I am a usual at this shop. The Mr. and Mrs. Lee are very friendly. Although Mrs. Lee's English maybe unclear; however, they love their customers. I go here for their Live Catfish and sometimes oysters. That's what makes em’ awesome. Decent pricing and decent selections. I also shop here for bait materials. It's a very small family market and I Sunh FishOur goto fish distributor for sashimi grade fish. Also a gray place to buy fresh oysters. Yiu get alot more for your money than yiu do at any of the high end seafood or sushi restaurants.Do you like it?× LikeNot a Fan× Thank You!