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The kind you can buy in the supermarkets? Fresh fish is super expensive here but good quality frozen fish like MSC wild caught salmon is pretty affordable. Can I just defrost it for a couple of hours and eat it or are there any dangers to it?

Thanks! :)

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Just an FYI, much of the "fresh" fish being sold was previously frozen and thawed for the showcase. – Carl_Stawicki Aug 18 2011 at 11:37
Thanks, good to know! :) – ChenZhen Aug 18 2011 at 12:25
so true, and that drives me crazy. it's like total false advertising! – delete me Aug 18 2011 at 20:19
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I'm so glad I finally read this whole post and not just the subject line. I was envisioning you wanting to eat fishsicles and was so completely grossed out I couldn't even open the thread to read it, lol. I vote with the others. Go ahead and eat. – Shari Bambino Aug 19 2011 at 2:55
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i only added parasites to the tags, to hopefully to get some other responds. – oak0y Aug 19 2011 at 7:32

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It should be fine. The FDA actually recommends you freeze fish and meat before eating it raw for 14 days to kill parasites, so I'm pretty sure you'll be fine. Especially if it's wild and it has stayed frozen the whole time and wasn't refrozen.

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Thanks a lot! :) – ChenZhen Aug 18 2011 at 12:25
I read this in "Nourishing Traditions" - sounds logical. – andrew Aug 18 2011 at 14:29
didnt know it was for 14 days!! thanks! – Kelly Aug 18 2011 at 15:33
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we're trusting the FDA now? ;-P just kiddin'! – Sunshine Aug 19 2011 at 2:47
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Apparently, the way they kill parasites in fish used for sushi is just that; freeze it. It should be okay to eat saltwater fish this way. (Salmon, tuna, etc)

Freshwater fish aren't used for sushi, and I suspect there's a reason.

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All my marine biologist friends avoid fish with a passion. especially sushi. If sushi grade fish is "debugged" by freezing, and they still avoid it, i'd be worried. they're either on to something, or they're just super paranoid. On the other hand,I've eaten sushi multiple times and haven't encountered any fishy symptoms or sicknesses.

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Just as many said is safer to eat frozen fish raw rather than fresh. Additinaly to what has already been said coldchain on fresh fish logistics can have problems (high temps), this can cause micribiologican problems. With frozen fish is much easier and there ir a big temp buffer. For example most of the salmon sushi eaten is japan is mainly made from frozen salmon/trout.

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Sashimi (raw fish) is one of my favourite treats. :)

I was told by a Japanese lady who taught cooking (sushi) that any fish that goes into fresh water, such as salmon do when they are hatched/spawning, needs to be frozen to kill any possible parasites in the fish. I am guessing that the problem is more prevalent in fresh water than sea water.

When I read the question I got a picture of an Eskimo eating frozen fish!

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