Fears Are Raised At International Conference That A Generation Will Never Cook Fresh Fish At Home Again

Speaking recently at the Norwegian Seafood Council’s Prawn and Crab seminar at the Royal Garden Hotel in London, Former Retail Manager for James Knight of Mayfair, Fiona O’Callaghan, made an appeal to consumers to eat fresh fish.

She says “In the 1950’s there were 50,000 high street fishmongers in the UK; now there are less than 1,000, mainly limited to wealthy areas. Many people have no access – or have to travel a long way – to buy genuinely fresh fish. We are going to reach a point where the only opportunity to eat fresh fish will be in a restaurant.”

She continues, “Every good fishmonger knows that fresh fish starts to deteriorate on the fourth day of storage; after that, it’s usually inedible. Much of what’s sold in the supermarket is ‘gas flushed*’ to extend it’s shelf life to up to five, seven, even 10 days. By this time, it will have undoubtedly lost its texture and flavour, rendering much of it pretty tasteless. I don’t see the point in eating what essentially amounts to a lump of protein.”

She concludes, “We all know that fish is good for us, and is part of a healthy, balanced diet; it’s time it tasted of something, too. James Knight of Mayfair is on a mission to bring fish to consumers that share our vision for good, honest food that should eat fish like it’s meant to be; within three days.”

*gas flushed relates to the process of Modified Atmosphere Packaging where the internal atmosphere of a package is modified in order to improve shelf life. The amount of oxygen is reduced to slow down the growth of aerobic organisms and the speed of oxidation, replaced with a combination of nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

PUBLISHED: July 23, 2018