Particular Issues for Fish and Chips Shops

Particular Issues for Fish and Chips Shops

Fish

When fish goes off glistening skin becomes dull, firm flesh softens, white flesh becomes yellowy, Mild sea odours change to strong off smells, pleasant tastes become sour and bitter.

One of the best ways to keep fish as fresh as possible is by keeping it as close as possible to 0°C. Trials conducted by Seafish have shown:

At 16°C fish is spoiled in less than 3 days.

At 5°C it is spoiled in less than 6 days.

Even at 0°C fish will spoil in 12 days.

Fresh or Frozen Fish?

If you buy fresh fish you do not really know how old it is, or how well it has been kept. There are a few things to do to make sure the fish will be suitable to use:

Buy from reputable suppliers, ideally locally.

Make sure product is delivered at cold temperatures, ideally iced, or at around 0°C.

Check any date information on packaging, particularly “Use By” dates.

Check product when it is delivered using your senses (look, feel, smell, taste).

Keep the fresh fish in a specially designed fish fridge running as close as possible to 0°C.

Fish and Chips shops often use frozen fish. This fish is caught and frozen at sea, often within minutes or hours of being caught.

Typically it has 18 Month shelf life and is marked with a Best before Date.

Temperatures, dates and condition of the packaging should be checked on delivery.

In order to stop the fish getting freezer burn and drying out it should be kept well wrapped.

Shops using frozen fish need to consider carefully how to defrost the fish. Ideally, it should be defrosted in refrigerated conditions but this can be difficult if there are large quantities of fish to defrost. Often fish is left in a cool area overnight to defrost. If this is the case it should be left covered and should be away from any other food, with the melting water being controlled. It should not be allowed to get too warm, ideally being refrigerated, in a specially designed fish fridge once it gets to temperatures of 0°C to 5°C.

Chips

If your shop makes chips from potatoes, then you will have bacteria on the potatoes in the sacks. Ideally potatoes should be stored and processed in a separate area of the shop to stop any potential spread of these bacteria around the shop. The whole potatoes should be rumbled and washed to remove most of the bacteria and other potential contaminants.

The temperatures potatoes are stored at can also affect chip quality. If they get too cold then the starch in the potatoes will turn to sugar and the chips will turn brown when fried. Potatoes should be stored in a cool dry area. The sugar content of the potatoes can also be checked if necessary on delivery. There are ways to overcome this problem by the use of certain chemical additives, but it is better to not have the problem in the first place by ensuring you buy good quality potatoes from a reputable supplier who stores them correctly.

Other Products

Any raw, uncooked foods you use can bring bacteria into your shop and should be carefully controlled and stored in the correct conditions.

Any fresh ready to eat items brought in, such as bread rolls and salad must be wrapped and stored in correct conditions, away from raw products.