• A good frozen fish is comparable to any fresh caught fish.
• Special freezers are employed in seafood factories to freeze seafood at its peak freshness.
• Frozen seafood are processed immediately after landing at the factory at (-40 celsius or above).
• A well frozen fish should be solidly frozen (hard as glass and appearance of solid snow).
• Avoid fish with white, dehydrated areas on the flesh – this is sign of freezer burn.
• Examine the package for ice crystals that may form around the inside of the package or be concentrated in one area of the package it is result of refreezing or temperature fluctuation at the time of storage.
• Don’t buy frozen seafood if the IQF bag is opened or torn, seafood would be exposed to freezer burn resulting in dehydration and bad taste.
• High quality frozen fish will have very little or no odour.
• Commonly available frozen forms are ‘Individually Frozen pieces (IQF)’ and ‘Block Frozen (BQF)’
• Individually frozen seafood (IQF) will have convenience of picking the pieces required for cooking.
• Block frozen has advantage of longer shelf life due to ice protection.

• Cleaning the fish normally refers to removing Scales, gut, gills and fins.
• In case of prawn, lobster, crab, oysters and clams it is removal of out shell along with the gut and the gut (viscera)
• In case of cuttlefish, octopus and squid, it is removal of beak, skin, bones and gut along with the ink sac
• Dressed seafood is washed under cool running water to the satisfaction
• Fishes are further chopped to the requirement.

• Fresh Seafood should be kept cool and moist, maximum holding time varies according to species, temperature and intrinsic quality.
• Always store Seafood at the coolest part of refrigerator (tray below the freezer),
• Avoid storing any meat products in freezer (ice formation will damages the tissue; flesh will lose its texture & flavour) giving a crumbled look.
• It is better if it is stored with crushed ice inside the fridge, wrap the seafood in sealed bag, so that meat will not soak ice. Use drains to avoid soaking in the water.
• Don't store fresh seafood more than two days in the fridge. Especially - oily fish should be consumed at earliest possible time.
• For longer shelf life or storage; clean the gut and remove inedible parts before storing

• Crab, Lobster, Oyster, Mussel and Clam can be stored longer in living condition; away from Sea.
• They can live out of the water for longer period of time, if they are kept stress free at right temperature (ambience) and oxygen supply: they can stay for a week.
• Keep it wrapped in moist cloth or hay or new paper or combination of all,
• Layer the bottom of the storage container with ice gel or ice, they need temperature around 10 -15.cel to keep them alive but not very active, they can live up to 2 -3 days. Container should have space for air circulation; don’t close it air tight.
• Ice or ice gel should not be in direct contact with the organism.
• Clam, Mussel and oyster can be stored in fridge, damp cloth with, for 2 days. Make sure it is live when you take it for cooking.
• Avoid soaking in freshwater, as the organism will die; as they can manage only sea water.

• Frozen seafood can be stored in the home freezers for a month.
• Storing the frozen seafood in deep freezers can be up to 6 months.
• Storage in Frozen cold store can be up to 1 year and above.

Refrigerator Thawing: Thaw frozen fish by placing in the refrigerator allowing 24 hours/ pound package to thaw.

Poly bag Thawing: For quicker thawing method place fish under cold running water in a leak proof plastic bag or submerge the seafood in cold water and change the water every 30 minutes until seafood has defrosted.

Microwave Thawing: Use appropriate microwave defrost setting until the food is cool, do not keep for long in microwave will start cooking process.