Cheating in supermarkets? Any fish experts?

[Nika]

I recently bought a 0.97lb of fresh cod.
After cooking, it reduced to a ridiculous amount and fell apart. I scraped up all of it and weighted it and it was 238g.

I know there is some weight loss when you cook the fish, but this seems to go way beyond it. 453grams --> 238 grams is 46% of the weight was lost. In addition, it tasted salty even though I had not added any salt.

I am suspecting that they are using phosphates or something else to treat fish and that this use is excessive. Anyone knows more about this subject?

[scfr]

Any chance the fish was not 100% defrosted?
There is a process called "glazing" Some is necessary to preserve & protect but it sounds like you may have been a victim of "Over Glazing"

Over Glazing Fish - the Most Common Deceptive Seafood Practice - YouTube

P.S. - It also sounds like they may have used some sort of brine solution to preserve. Personally I'll take a piece of fish frozen-at-sea or at an on-shore processing plant any day over so called "fresh" (never frozen) that has been injected with something. Sometimes "fresh" isn't the freshest, if you know what I mean? Also, I've noticed that flaky fishes (like cod) cook down more than a meaty fish (like mahi mahi) so it may not be all "cheating."

[mavycharm]

Over Glazing

Woooh! That just sounds so frustrating. But not new to me actually. A friend of mine actually had same insulting experience with these "cheating deeds" of some marketers. My best advise is to refrain from buying to them or better yet report them for these unethical-abusive acts.

[DinoSaur]

I generally only go to a fishmongers for fish as I do not try the supermarkets and the handlers.

[scfr]

Are individuals allowed to go to the Fulton Fish Market? That might be a very educational weekend outing for you. Personally, I love getting as close as I can to the point of origin of foods because I learn so much. Today I am going to a small urban garden in my area. I will probably purchase some veggies & range-free eggs, maybe even some Longhorn beef.

[pretty cheap jewelry]

Beware - you easily did not get what you paid for. Just this week the news came out that fish is highly mis-labelled. The original study was done by a watch dog group Oceana here Wrong Labelling on Fish

and NPR reported here Fishmarket Fraud

and others here Wide range of decent analysis in fish label problems

[snafu]

Fish is so tricky, the stuff at the supermarket isn't always handled well. It's baked/cooked by thickness. If you retained the bill, I'd scrape some together and take it back to the store. A few weeks ago I bought a tray of chicken thighs only to discover there was an extra ordinary amount of skin and fat tucked beneath each piece. i was so annoyed I threw all the cut off pieces in a baggie and retained over night in the fridge. We ate the braised chicken thighs for dinner. The next AM I took the baggie of bits to the store manager and told him I'd never buy that product again. He had the poultry representative call me later in the day. I got a $20. gift certificate, poultry cook book and written apology in the mail a few days later. If you don't tell the store manager he'll never know about problem products.

[97guns]

i havn't eaten much fish since fukushima, that thing is still spewing out radiation

[LuckyRobin]

Cod does shrink by about 1/4 in cooking, but definitely not by 1/2. If it completely fell to bits you probably cooked it too long. Cod should be cooked for 10 minutes per inch of thickness. If you are tasting salt that you did not add, then the fillet was likely soaked in salt water or some other form of preservative. They do have to put it on the label if they have done anything to it, even if you are just getting it from the fish counter at the grocery store. At least they do in my state.

[elfen lied]

Your first item is most likely part of a fish neurocranium. Some fish have a crest toward the back of the skull. Here is a nice web site that identifies fish parts: http://hbs.bishopmus...ypes.html#neuro