Are we being ripped off with supermarkets and fish markets selling us frozen fish fillets instead of thawed out ones?
Would a frozen block of fish weigh more than a thawed out one kept on ice? I suspect there might be some excess water in the frozen ones.
I would much prefer to buy them frozen in the display to minimize food poisoning risk than buying fish that might have been thawed a few days earlier and put away every night until sold.
While I agree with you gummibear, the amount of water/liquid in the meats these days is ridiculous. Don't know whether they are pumped with water or what but every time I put the chicken in the oven/grill, the raw huge chicken pieces once done turn into tiny chicken pieces floating in liquid & no it isn't the fat.
Meat especially chicken shrink after cooking. A better way to test your suspicions is to allow it to thaw in the fridge for 24 hours and check melted water.
A better way to test your suspicions is to allow it to thaw in the fridge for 24 hours and check melted water.
wouldnt you get condensation on the frozen food as it melts? like you get on the outside of your beer glass as you drink it? which means that the water on the plate may not be from the frozen food but from the atmosphere
only way you could really do it is to seal it in a vacuum bag maybe?
@nosdan: That's what I thought too, nosdan. But defrosting in a fridge - I dunno, I personally don't remember seeing noticeable water doing it in the fridge, presumably because it's a more gradual temperature change and still cold…
I get heaps of water from condensation when taking something out and leaving it on the bench to defrost though (not meat! I freeze loads of stuff lol).
I don't think you need to seal it in a vacuum bag. Just have the portion you're defrosting in any freezer bag tied up with no air in it, that'll do the job.
Just leaving the meat on a plate or bowl to defrost definitely won't let you know whether the water came from inside the meat or whether it's condensation.
@waterlogged turnip: fridges are far less humid than outside air because the cooling coil inside the fridge also works as a dehumidifier. afaik it has nothing to do with the temp differences?
that being said tho you would get a new dose of moisture any time you opened the fridge and so things like vegies etc giving off moisture as well.
but i guess your right, a freezer bag would also work but its getting all/most of the air out first plus the ease of removing any dampness you might get on the outside after its defrosted was more my line of thinking. i think i was just trying to be too over the top scientific about it
@nosdan: Your explanation in your first few lines is far more logical and scientific than my derpy guess. Appreciated. lol :)
@waterlogged turnip: The reason you don't get much water when defrosting in the fridge is because of the very low humidity in the fridge.
We found the same when we bought chicken fillets from the supermarket, the pan will fill with water. We changed to the local butcher, individual fillet were much smaller (300g as opposed to 500g). Cooking the released no water. You could actually pan grill the chicken rather than poaching it. Costs more at the butcher but I reckon after accounting for the water there isn't a lot of difference. Also the butcher gives us excellent service, will prep the meat the way we want it, also give helpful cooking advice, and incredibly friendly service. No more supermarket meat for us.
teardrops21, that's true, thinking about it now when we have bought chicken from the butcher, it's fresher & tastier almost. I think I just succumb to the supermarket route for the convenience of being able to dash in anytime which is handy with tiny tots. But, yeah it makes more sense in the long run to get it from the butcher which is what we plan to do from now on. So, Thank you :)
Curious about where your butcher is located. I buy chicken fillets from my local butcher and for a double breast I pay between $6.99-$8.99/kg depending on the day. At the supermarkets I generally see chicken breast for $12+/kg.
it would be interesting in how you think the frozen fish has excess water ? and how substantial you think the excess water would be.
( i get that they would have a tad bit of ice around them or whatever, i mean in a notorious way that would be classified as "ripping" people off)
This. Any excess water frozen to a frozen fillet would be negligible, I'm sure.
Unless OP can attach photos of frozen fish they've bought that have come encased in an ice block lol.
Maybe another way to rephrase the question is whether fish fillet from a freezer would weigh more than fish fillet in the fridge.
I can offer a possible explanation. Whenever you freeze something you're creating ice crystals. The slower you freeze it, the larger these crystals grow. Large crystals will burst cell walls and allow more water to escape during the thawing process which may be why some people think frozen meat contains more water. This all depends on the method of freezing, of course. Less water will escape from snap frozen foods than those frozen in your freezer at home
Actual explanation in my comment a couple of days ago, below, that specifically applies to meat.
Issue substantially different to frozen vegetables, including beans… Cell walls in meat remain substantially resilient in a way and to a degree that vegetable cell-walls do not, irrespective of poor freezing or thawing.
The actual INJECTION of water, under pressure (not brine, or marinade, but plain water under the guise of 'enhancing moisture' in the meat for the benefit of the customer), by some meat-processors, into some types of meat sold in some places, is where the excess water-weight scam kicks-in.
It may have been part of a 'Four Corners' report I saw several years ago (I'm not exactly sure where), but here is the exact type of machine that was filmed being used in Australia to do the needle-injection.
After resting/other processing, there are NO outwardly visible signs that the meat (even small-portion stuff) has been injected, and a high-proportion of the weighty 'moisture enhancement' remains.
In the case of snap-freezing straight off the line, processors can get away with trapping even more water in frozen meat like the whole chooks and turkeys, or the roasts, that I mentioned below.
Plenty still in unfrozen, but it will depend entirely on where you shop and on the suppliers that those supermarket chains or individual butchers source from.
Buyer beware.
Um you could say that about just about any packaged meat at the supermarket. Have you seen their cuts of lamb, beef and pork roasts? All full of water and sealed…
Be a man. Hunt the animal, kill, skin and fillet it yourself. The only way to be sure.
This is uncivilised
I don't see alot of frozen lamb, beef or pork roasts in my local supermarket. Maybe the reason is because they don't live under water?
Seafood is another issue.
Frozen seafood is indeed another issue, but as far as excess water-weight is concerned, it's only going to be an 'issue' if you really are buying it in block-ice form. I don't think that there are too many supermarket products that fit that description, but if you're buying something from a fish-market that does, can see a lot of ice/are paying by weight, then obviously…
As zeggie indicated, actual pressure-injection of water INTO other meats is a proper scandal, and processors get away with particularly shocking levels in frozen chooks and turkeys, and ham/pork products.
I've read about pressure-injection of water into fresh salmon fillets happening (along with some particularly dodgy artificial-colouring in the 'smoked' variety, incidentally), but otherwise - in frozen fish - unless there is a stack of surrounding ice that you're paying for, blindly, it's hardly going to be a big problem relative to buying thawed.
If woolies and Coles fish aren't defrosted they are supposed to give you a % off. Not sure the exact details though and half the time neither are their staff
The reason most fish is deep frozen is that the trawlers are out at sea for days and if they didnt snap freeze it, it would be off by the time they got back to port, also makes transportation easier/safer in freezer trucks etc. What I object too is advertising it as Fresh, and the fact that it is very hard to purchase Australian fish.
80% of seafood at the big 2 are sourced overseas (NZ, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand). There was a special report by Today Tonight/Current Affair a few years back about mislabeling seafood and their sources.
This is the thing though, you need to know what fish you're customers will buy, and not order fresh fish for the sake of it. And if you need to clear it out, don't order it again and create a bit of demand with your customer base. Another key is to know what your customers think is a great buy and what isn't. Fresh fish over $38kg is bad, smooth dory at around $15kg very good, frozen barramundi at half the price of fresh barramundi is better because the difference in quality is negligible and the cut of fish is so much better..
buy prepackaged :D