You’re Being Duped Right Before Your Eyes: ‘Fresh’ Fish Is Often Just Frozen Fish

Fresh fish: that sounds so delicious… fresh, right? Simply pop a tender fillet into the pan or oven, pour over some foaming melted butter, add a little salt, pepper and lemon juice – it doesn’t need anything else. Yes, a fresh fish like that is a real treat – straight from the sea via a fishmonger or supermarket onto your plate. Or so you’d think.

But as the TV programme Keuringsdienst van Waarde has shown: there’s a rather murky world between catching fish, freezing it, then thawing it again and selling it in a plastic tray at the supermarket as ‘fresh fish’. With the back of the packaging stating: ‘Thawed’. Huh?

Two years in the freezer

The programme’s investigators had to go to great lengths to find someone willing to explain honestly how this chain actually works. Many parties involved in this industry refuse to cooperate. One person who does not try to conceal the truth admits that this is simply the cheaper way to sell fish as supposedly fresh, and that consumers simply vote with their wallets.

And it is possible that fish sold as fresh in the supermarket has been frozen for as long as two years.

Jonnie hates it

They also visit Michelin-starred chef and FavorFlav friend Jonnie Boer and one of his chefs in the kitchen of De Librije, carrying a bag of ‘fresh’ fish from the supermarket. You should watch the episode just for their reaction alone (it’s easy to watch it again online).

Price-wise

Another thing to think about: frozen fish bought from the supermarket freezer section is generally three times cheaper than the fish in the so-called fresh fish section, which has also been frozen but thawed before you buy it in the shop.

Find a good fishmonger

A bright spot: the fish sold as ‘fresh that day’ at the market fish stall (in this episode) may not have been frozen first if that term is used. You’ll have to take the fishmonger at their word, but a lot can already be learned from the texture of fresh fish.

Choose consciously

What you can conclude from this, at the very least, is that paying three times as much for supposedly fresh fish that was first frozen and then thawed may not be the smartest thing to do as a consumer. What does one of the people who cooperated with the programme call it? ‘Conning the public’.

Read also:

• Top hack: how to squeeze a lemon without a knife (and without any seeds!)
• These supermarket labels seriously lead you up the garden path
• Omega-3 fatty acids: do they really have to come from fish oil capsules?

Photographer: KRO-NCRV