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Help for the Shelf Life of Fresh Fish
| Article
# : |
14918 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1988 |
2,633 Words |
| Author
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Robert C. Lindsay
Robert C. Lindsay is professor of food chemistry in the
Department of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin--
Madison |
Coastal inhabitants have long held the advantage over inland dwellers when it comes to enjoying fresh fish. Seacoast residents have always been accustomed to both a greater variety and fresher quality of fish and other seafood. Truly fresh fish has delicate flavors that few find objectionable, and even the most critical of consumers agree that they would eat fish regularly if they could be guaranteed a product without the fishy taste so often encountered in both restaurant and supermarket fish.
Fresh fish and other seafood currently enjoy an enviable position in the marketplace when compared to beef, pork, and other meats. Gone are the days of the not-so-distant past when fish was promoted by home economists and nutritionists as the most inexpensive high-quality protein that a budget-conscious family could purchase. Instead, fish are among the highest priced foods found on the market. Fish's reputation as a quality food has steadily gained ground, first spurred by its image as having less cholesterol and fewer calories than red meat. However, it took the recognition of the health value of omega-3s by the general public to complete the upscaling of most fish varieties, which now command unprecedentedly high prices on the market.
The Omega-3 Dilemma
Dietarily significant concentrations of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids occur only in fish. They are the specific precursor compounds to certain highly potent cell-level bioregulators. Included are the omega-3 and omega-6 families of prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes, all of which are becoming familiar compounds in biochemical and biomedical research. These compounds assist a variety of physiological functions, ranging from these effecting clotting time to those involved in the immunosystem. The most widely publicized role of dietary omega-3 fatty acids, of course, involves a lessened incidence of cardiovascular disease, a correlation that was first observed for Greenland Eskimos and coastal Japanese fisherman. For reasons not yet entirely understood, fatty fish, such as mackerel and salmon, especially accumulate omega-3 fatty acids from their diets.
The long-chain omega fatty acids also serve as the precursor compounds for some of the most potent fishy-flavored compounds. As a result, the very fish that are cited for their high omega-3 fatty acid content are also the most sensitive to conditions that promote fish-flavor quality deterioration.
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