Seafood Safety

We all have heard the merits of eating seafood. Fish and other seafood is healthy and tasty too. But seafood does carry some risk if it is not handled, stored or prepared properly. People with healthy immune systems are at risk for foodborne illnesses from poorly prepared seafood. This risk is magnified in the HIV patient whose immune system is weak and unable to fight off potentially harmful organisms. In extreme cases, seafood-borne illnesses can result in death for people with severely weakened immune systems. This seafood safety guide will show you how to reduce your risk of foodborne illness from poorly prepared seafood.

Food Safety Basics

The Source of Seafood Borne Illnesses

Eating raw or undercooked seafood -- especially mollusks, clams, oysters, and scallops -- can be dangerous. Seafood such as those can harbor bacteria that are ingested from their habitat. Many times, their habitat is in areas or high water pollution from large cities. As these sea creatures feed, they ingest bacteria along with the nutrients they draw from the water. The bacteria they ingest are often harmless to the fish and mollusks but can be dangerous to people who eat the infected seafood.

HIV and the Importance of Food safety

The one common type of infectious organism found in undercooked seafood is a bacteria called Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Once ingested by the fish, this bacteria continues to multiply even after the seafood is dead and refrigerated awaiting preparation at your home, a restaurant, etc. The only way to kill Vibrio is by thoroughly cooking the seafood. Obviously, if infected seafood is eaten raw or undercooked, you ingest bacteria with each bite of your dinner.

The Symptoms of Seafood Borne Infections

Infection with Vibrio parahaemolyticus can make you sick within hours to two weeks of eating the infected seafood. Symptoms include:

• fever
• chills
• frequent, watery diarrhea
• confusion
• weakness
• red and painful skin (cellulitis)
• blisters most often on the legs

In extreme cases, Vibrio can be fatal especially if infection occurs in people with:

• diabetes
• liver disease
• stomach or intestinal disorders
• weakened immune systems - HIV/AIDS or cancer to name two

Why Should I Be Concerned About Food and Water Safety?

Preventing Seafood Borne Infections

By understanding the proper way to purchase, store, handle and prepare your seafood, you can avoid Vibrio and other seafood-borne illnesses.

Can I Safely Eat in a Restaurant?

Shopping for Seafood
When you buy your seafood, you should keep a few things in mind. Following these guidelines will help decrease your risk of seafood-borne illnesses.

• Only buy your seafood from reputable dealers, markets, or grocery stores.

  Important Advice! Never buy your seafood from the back of a truck, a van, or other "fly by night" retailers.

• Ironically, seafood should not smell fishy.

• Fresh fish should be moist and pink in color. Do not buy if it is dry and/or brown.

• When buying whole fish, the eyes should be bright and clear. Avoid fish with sunken and/or cloudy eyes.

• Frozen fish should not be freezer burned or have damaged packaging.

• The shells of oysters, clams, etc. should be completely or close to completely and tightly closed.

• When holding the shell between your thumb and index finger, the shells should be tight. You should not be able to rub the two halves of the shell against one another.

• Only buy shellfish that are iced when you purchase them.

Storing Seafood Properly
Proper storage of the seafood you have purchased is of utmost importance in order to decrease your risk of seafood-borne illness.

• If you do not plan on freezing fresh fish, keep it in the original store packaging until it is cooked.

  Important Warning! Cook fresh fish no later than two days after purchase.

• Store live shellfish in the refrigerator using loosely covered containers and gently wrapping the shellfish in a clean, damp cloth.

  Important Warning! Never store live shellfish in water or airtight containers.

• Once opened, keep canned seafood refrigerated in a clean, covered glass or plastic container.

• Keep raw and cooked seafood separate.

Proper Preparation of Seafood
The key to proper preparation is temperature.

• Thaw frozen seafood in the refrigerator in the package it was frozen in.

• Cook seafood thoroughly, separate from raw seafood.

• Keep seafood that will be served cold at 40 F or below.

• For seafood served hot, maintain at a temperature of 140 F or above.

  Important Warning! Temperatures of 41 to 139 F are ideal conditions for seafood-borne bacteria to flourish. Avoid this temperature range when storing, serving, or cooking seafood.

Food Preparation Temperature Chart

Taking the proper precautions will allow you to enjoy the nutritional benefits and great taste of seafood. Proper purchasing, storage, cooking and serving is the only way to protect you from potentially dangerous seafood-borne infections.

Important Instructions! If you think you may have eaten infected seafood or you have the signs and symptoms of seafood-borne illnesses, contact your doctor or head to the emergency room as soon as possible for diagnosis and treatment of your symptoms.

_{Source: The Centers for Disease Control; Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Disease; "Vibrio parahaemolyticus - Fact Sheet"; 25 Oct 2005.}