Would You Eat These Prawns?

morse on 11/10/2020 - 19:43
Last edited 14/10/2020 - 19:29

Bought ‘fresh’ Aussie banana prawns 🦐 from Coles this afternoon to go in pasta. Some of them looked really suss with full green entrails 🤢. We deveined the normal ones to eat. Not sure if this is a natural and safe thing e.g. prawns feasted on seaweed (they are the cockroaches of the sea after all) or if they are dodgy and we should chuck them. I’m not sure if I can bring myself to eat them, but also do t like waste.

Does anyone know what’s going on here? Would you eat them?

Pic here https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/175189/83507/8f01724c-…

UPDATE: Thanks everyone for your advice. We didn't eat the green slim ones (just four, we ate the rest) and didn't get the chance to cook them to see if the roe would turn orange. I showed the photo to Coles and the store manager said "ewww" and gave me a refund straight away. I agree with a lot of people here that perhaps they were edible and maybe we're conditioned to like things to look uniform, as expected etc, which is not great for preventing waste and keeping costs low etc. I think in future I'll go to the trawler or fish monger and ask for what I'm looking for - lesson learned.

Poll Options

  • 67
    Yes
  • 348
    No
Food & Grocery Prawns Seafood

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 11/10/2020 - 19:45
    +12

    I wouldn't use those as bait.

    Wouldn't you have seen them in the display?

    • morse on 11/10/2020 - 19:47
      +2

      No, I’m guessing they were underneath… most looked normal.

      • OzCheapo on 11/10/2020 - 23:59
        +47

        You're not supposed to use supermarket prawns for bait - they can spread White Line Disease if they're infected. This is especially the case if they're imported from o/s

        • mapax on 12/10/2020 - 07:19
          +7

          Isn’t it called white spot disease?

          • OzCheapo on 12/10/2020 - 07:25
            +3

            @mapax: You're right. I was thinking about laminitis. Good catch.

            But yes shrimp farmers in QLD are terrified of having to eradicate it again after the first outbreak

        • [Deactivated] on 12/10/2020 - 10:14
          +1

          Good reminder.

          Prawns are a crappy bait anyway. Live yabbies are where it is at.

          • Some Guy on 14/10/2020 - 15:16
            +2

            @[Deactivated]: Bait fishermen. The oompah loompahs of the angling world. Grow up and get a fly rod.

            • mapax on 14/10/2020 - 16:22
              +3

              @Some Guy: Lol
              Fly fisherman. The fedoras of the angling world…

            • [Deactivated] on 14/10/2020 - 16:55
              +2

              @Some Guy: Pfff.

              Fly fisherman. The horseback polo players of the angling world.

              Don't drive your G wagon too close to the water. Wouldn't want to damage those AMG rims.

            • itsHughesy on 14/10/2020 - 18:40

              @Some Guy: I want to, but seems complicated? don't really know where to start

        • cameldownunder on 12/10/2020 - 18:07

          Thats why you use local cooked prawns.

      • capslock janitor on 13/10/2020 - 10:09
        +1

        Were their heads intact, or you pulled them apart to see? General rule if the heads are falling off/loose they're not that fresh.

  • Hybroid on 11/10/2020 - 19:47
    +2

    Not a fan of prawns/shrimp but apparently green ones are fine:

    https://strathpine.aussieseafoodhouse.com.au/product/bays-pr…

    • Sensiekatie on 12/10/2020 - 11:42
      -6

      Those are raw prawns that need cooking. They do not look anything like OP'S picture. The OP'S prawns have the orange tinges of being cooked, so I assume they bought cooked prawns.

      • kaitoivan on 13/10/2020 - 11:39
        +1

        you need to learn the differences between cooked and raw prawns

  • Godric on 11/10/2020 - 19:47

    no

  • Stewardo on 11/10/2020 - 20:05
    +7

    They look like green prawns, they are uncooked.

    • morse on 11/10/2020 - 20:10

      Yeah, they are uncooked. But the entrails are super green and thick unlike most uncooked green prawns I’ve had that have a thin black entrail.

      • AustriaBargain on 12/10/2020 - 10:28
        +4

        How does the green slime taste?

        • cameldownunder on 12/10/2020 - 18:09
          +1

          Do they smell bad, or just of prawns. Prawns with big poo lines are Wild caught, while my suspicious is that farmed are starved for a few days, before fished, so they dont have big poo line

          • AustriaBargain on 12/10/2020 - 18:18
            +1

            @cameldownunder: I think OP doesn't like to eat the poo poo, so farmed might be better for him.

            • morse on 12/10/2020 - 18:45
              +2

              @AustriaBargain: Yeah you're right about OP, she doesn't like to eat poo poo - and yeah, I think farmed and nice looking might be better for me, sad to say - wild and seaweed/roe stuffed is probably better.

  • jackinyourbox on 11/10/2020 - 20:13
    +1

    It’s green ! Lol no way

  • ScuseMe on 11/10/2020 - 20:19
    +4

    You should take it back to Coles. Personally I wouldn't eat that.

  • Kangal on 11/10/2020 - 20:21
    +11

    These look perfect if you want to sneak some into the air-con vent (car or house or both) of your enemies.

    • Chirse on 11/10/2020 - 20:25
      +7

      *within 5 km

    • morse on 11/10/2020 - 20:28

      lol, maybe I should list them free on Marketplace if anyone is in need

  • thatonethere on 11/10/2020 - 20:27
    +1

    Maybe defrosted and frozen a few too many times

    • Peck on 12/10/2020 - 14:19
      +2

      I doubt it. Supermarkets throw out their left over seafood every evening. I just put their appearance down to the fact that they are thawed frozen prawns and not fresh prawns. I don't buy supermarket prawns anyway because a lot come from Vietnam Farmed or are Australian Farmed. I avoid farmed seafood.

      • kaleidoscope on 12/10/2020 - 20:50

        Why do you avoid farmed seafood?

      • J6 on 12/10/2020 - 23:10
        +2

        Lol supermarkets definitely don't.

  • chack008 on 11/10/2020 - 20:45
    +2

    Eww that does not look edible.
    On a a different note, has anyone had issues with chicken sold at deli? A few times I have got chicken that smells like they have been preserved in brine.

    • morse on 11/10/2020 - 20:55

      Yup. Normally I get free range which isn’t available in deli, but occasionally when I need a small amount I get it from the deli and have noticed it doesn’t smell good.

      • jayboi on 11/10/2020 - 21:01
        +3

        Take these prawns back to Coles and ask for them to change it over for ones that are fine to eat next time you go shopping there

        • SlickMick on 12/10/2020 - 09:04
          +2

          I really want to start returning "fresh" produce that isn't fresh. I'm so sick of throwing out the rubbish fruit they sell.

          I would love for them to have a continuous return of stinking seafood. Might get them to live up to their "fresh food" slogan.

          • mapax on 12/10/2020 - 09:27
            +2

            @SlickMick: I returned meat to Woolworths that I wasn’t happy with.

            • SlickMick on 12/10/2020 - 11:40
              +1

              @mapax: I guess meat is expensive so it's worth it. I want to make the effort to return rotting fruit too.

              I once took just the receipt back for some meat (I'd eaten the evidence) - I thought the price was wrong when I saw the credit card charge.
              The checkout operator was puzzled "was there something wrong with the meat?" "No, it was delicious".
              Turns out steak is really expensive in Port Moresby.

            • juki on 13/10/2020 - 01:43

              @mapax: yeah i had to really fight for that refund despite showing pics of how much water was in the pan

    • bobbified on 11/10/2020 - 21:16

      Maybe I start hould look at the chickens I buy more carefully! I usually just take it home and devour it!

    • tomlikesbeetroot on 13/10/2020 - 00:43
      +1

      Brined chicken is quite normal prior to cooking, kfc does it too.
      It's not done for preservation but makes the meat juicier.

    • michaelpls on 13/10/2020 - 14:15

      I bought a top round beef roast from Coles. Checked the ingredients after I bought it and realised it has celery powder added into it. I guess they're using it to extend the shelf life but it's a bit misleading to add Nitrates to a "fresh" beef product and not have to market it as a cured product because celery powder is "natural".

  • Yummy on 11/10/2020 - 21:19

    Vietnamese prawns?

  • AndyC1 on 11/10/2020 - 21:26
    +14

    The green is their digestive track and shows that they have been eating some green seaweed.

  • sfk10 on 11/10/2020 - 22:17

    Do they smell or is it slimy? If not, its prob normal.

    • diazepam on 11/10/2020 - 23:26

      Have you ever eaten raw prawn (like sashimi) or even peeled/deveined a raw prawn?…
      It's always slimy.

  • CC123 on 11/10/2020 - 22:47

    No way

  • Queen Muffin on 11/10/2020 - 23:07
    +44

    The green gooey stuff is called hepatopancreas. It is the digestive organ or guts in prawns. After you cook the prawns, it turns orange. It is like the roe in scallops. Th green stuff is also called 'saddle' and it means your prawns were ready to lay eggs. https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/56749/green-gooe…
    Poor prawn mothers…

    • Menzoberranzan on 13/10/2020 - 10:49

      So just to sum it up for everybody here that isn't very clued in on prawns, these prawns the OP posted are absolutely fine to cook and eat?

      • VerticallyIntegrated on 13/10/2020 - 16:41
        +1

        hepatopancreas

        I love their new album.

      • Queen Muffin on 13/10/2020 - 20:28
        +1

        Yes, it is fine to eat, the green stuff is just prawn eggs. I personally hate scallop roes and the prawn ones so I usually just take out the green stuff. I like salmon roes though because the texture is different. Salmon roes pops in your mouth but the scallop/prawn ones more like what soft melted fat ?

  • ihbh on 12/10/2020 - 07:29

    Key question is are they farmed or wild caught?

    • HelpMeiCantSee on 12/10/2020 - 08:05

      They teleported down from Jupiter of course.

      • ihbh on 12/10/2020 - 08:12
        +2

        No, Mars - aren't all things Martian green?

        • Travis J on 12/10/2020 - 12:20
          +4

          Green Lives Matter

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 09:38

      I’m guessing farmed… it didn’t say on the tag, just ‘product of Australia’

      • ihbh on 12/10/2020 - 10:11
        -1

        Look at what you are "pass through" eating. You are effectively eating what the prawns are fed or abundant in their farmed environment.

        • morse on 12/10/2020 - 11:32

          Yeah, I think I’m off prawns for a while. Goes for all animals really, it’s just a lot more visible with prawns. I generally go for wild caught seafood but was too lazy and not organised enough to go directly to the trawler for prawns on this occasion.

          • ihbh on 12/10/2020 - 11:45

            @morse: I've found the Woolworths wild caught large prawns (tiger, etc.) ~$25 much better quality. Nevertheless I'm pretty much whole food plant based and occasionally get prawns for the family, who still have some meat, and have one or two myself.

            • morse on 12/10/2020 - 12:13

              @ihbh: I do tend to find Woolworths better than Coles for fresh seafood in my area too. My local Coles is particularly rubbish - I should have learned my lesson by now!

  • pjcook on 12/10/2020 - 07:58
    +1

    Did they say Aussie or Product of Australia? Not necessarily the same thing

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 09:35

      Product of Australia. I just shortened it to be succinct for my description.

    • selphie on 13/10/2020 - 15:28
      +1

      could you clarify how they are different?

  • inittobinit on 12/10/2020 - 09:31
    +4

    Another example of why you don't buy meat/fish from large chain supermarkets.

    Had a friend work in the deli/seafood section of a major and she told me they don't even know when it was caught/produced they just get told to put it out.

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 09:37

      Yeah, I agree, it’s just that Coles is so convenient when we go for a walk in the afternoon. There are local fish markets but all a drive away, so we need to be more organised and decide what we’re having for dinner earlier in the day.

      • inittobinit on 12/10/2020 - 10:36
        +1

        A ritual before COVID was to go down to the queen vic market or south melbourne markets on a sunday, pick up your meats/produce for the week and grab your average packed goods from coles/woolies during the week (or get them delivered).

  • OzHunterNSW on 12/10/2020 - 09:48
    +3

    The "green" is simply the particular feed they have been given.
    It is your mind associating the colour green with meat being off… when in this case, the food is perfectly normal.

    You are throwing good money in the trash.

  • ozbjunkie on 12/10/2020 - 10:20
    +3

    Maybe I'm wrong, but for meat I usually just rely on the smell test. If I put it real close to my nose, take a big whiff, and nothing deep in my hard-coded instinctive reaction says "nah don't eat that" I usually think I'm good to go.

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 10:36

      There was a bit of a sulphur smell, but not strong enough to completely write them off on smell alone.

      • ozbjunkie on 12/10/2020 - 11:30

        I find a little bit of off smell is fine, as it's often just some of the juice in a tray of salmon, or the milk around the rim of the bottle.

        I'm certain when I get a more visceral reaction from my gut. If it's just a mild odour I usually think I'll be fine. And I always am. Once in a while I'm not brave to risk it though.

        I understand this method doesn't work for all bacteria, or mould, or things with little natural odour like cooked rice.

        Not dead yet though.

  • AustriaBargain on 12/10/2020 - 10:28

    Maybe buy factory frozen prawns from now on.

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 10:35

      If you know where I can get frozen deveined Australian prawns processed in Australia it would be definitely something I’d buy. I actually don’t devein the prawns myself, my husband does as I really dislike doing it. I might stick to Moreton bay bugs instead for a while now, not very OzBargain, but much more delicious.

  • Willco88 on 12/10/2020 - 10:38
    +2

    Extra nutrients ;)

  • nfr on 12/10/2020 - 11:23
    +11

    Go half way, eat 2 of them. Keep the other 2 in case you need them for lab analysis.

  • c64 on 12/10/2020 - 13:36
    +1

    take one for the team - scoff them all down and report back in two days time …

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 14:01
      +2

      If I wasn’t starting a new job this week I’d consider it, not sure how many trips to the toilet is acceptable first day in a new job,

  • windale on 12/10/2020 - 13:47
    +7

    prawn roe is green untl cooked. so perfectly fine to eat these.

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 14:00
      +1

      Does the roe go all the way through the digestive tract? This was all the way through and the digestive tract was swollen.

    • viper8548 on 13/10/2020 - 02:43

      correct, more specifically tiger and banana prawns's roe are green until cooked. King prawns roe is orange raw and cooked.

    • 42 on 13/10/2020 - 13:44

      Yeah looks like roe to me. The green will turn pink when cooked.

  • eek on 12/10/2020 - 14:59
    +7

    It's fine to eat. No wonder so much food gets wasted in this country. If it's not vacuum packed, soaking in preservatives and sold in an air conditioned mall/supermarket people can't eat it :P

  • Maglia Nera on 12/10/2020 - 15:00
    +2

    they look pretty dead …. 🤪

  • trapper on 12/10/2020 - 15:34
    +1

    Nothing wrong with them.

    It's easy to pull all that green out if you want, just cut straight down the back of the shell with scissors.

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 18:41

      yeah, my husband was going to do that, but I was the bad one and said I wasn't keen on eating them. The other ones with regular looking entrails were fine once he'd deveined them. I guess I'm part of the problem. But by the look for the poll, I'm not alone.

  • mrvaluepack on 12/10/2020 - 16:21

    How do they smell? Trust your nose.

  • ozpat on 12/10/2020 - 16:42
    +1

    I bought some of those from Coles a few weeks ago, and threw them out. I noticed that the guy who served me took the prawns from the back section of the display. Next time I went in I asked for the ones on top and they were really good. Lesson learned.

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 18:35

      Glad I'm not the only one! maybe these need to be in there own section at a different price - "spawning prawns! $9.99/kg - free baby prawns!"

  • gimme on 12/10/2020 - 16:47

    Not sure if it's been said but if you throw it out, bring the pic along with the receipt and they'll most likely refund you. I had a 'similar' situation with smoked salmon going bad within 2 days and chucked it out. Showed them the pic and they happily replaced for me and apologised. I didn't act obnoxious and just told them what happened and said I didn't want to bring back spoiled salmon. I understand this is most likely edible but supermarkets don't like selling anything that doesn't look good these days which is another story.

    • morse on 12/10/2020 - 18:34

      Thank you - yes I think I'll show the picture to Coles. I'm a bit torn though, as some seem to think it's a natural thing, and I don't want to be part of the reason for selective purchasing that results in waste, like the whole thing where they were throwing out over and undersized bananas.

      • mapax on 12/10/2020 - 18:43

        Do you still have them? Cook one and see if it goes orange.

      • windale on 12/10/2020 - 18:47

        we are not guessing.

  • 91rs on 12/10/2020 - 18:59

    Are they Banana prawns? If so they're meant to be kinda green inside is what I've been told.
    Should also change colour to a pink or orange when cooked.

    (EDIT: re-read and yes OP said they were Banana prawns, my bad)
    As long as there is no strange smell etc and they cook up and look fine then yes, its normal.

  • KiKH on 12/10/2020 - 19:42

    My chef gf says the colour doesnt matter as much as its smell.
    Its smell should be salty sea-ish.

  • Sidog on 12/10/2020 - 20:56
    +3

    they'll be fine mate, throw em on the barbie!

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