How do you tell if your sushi has taken a turn for the worse? The way it looks? The smell? My mother taught me the importance of the sniff test in detecting spoiled food, but her method may not be the safest according to Keith Schneider, an associate professor of food science with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
Schneider, in an article on the UF news page, said that keeping sushi longer than 24 hours is not advisable; the raw fish and rice concoctions are meant to be eaten within a day of purchase. Personally, I've always been a bit wary of consuming any raw fish or meat (especially after it’s been sitting in my refrigerator for any amount of time), but I know that I have overlooked the fact that the doggie bag sushi I wolf down for a midnight snack may be 36 to 48 hours old. Schneider has convinced me to chuck my aging leftovers, even if they look and smell fine.
Surprisingly, it's not the raw fish that is the most worrisome, but rather the sushi rice which may provide a perfect breeding ground for the bacterium called Bacillus. Schneider said that sushi rice is normally mixed with vinegar to increase its acidity and discourage bacteria growth.
With more sushi restaurants popping up and supermarkets offering to-go sushi (which Schneider advises to keep cold until consumption and to eat within a 24-hour period, too), I think that the knowledge of proper storage is important; I certainly will be disposing of my sushi, no matter how good it smells, in a timely manner.
2 comments:
See, you're never too old to learn new tricks:) Love, your momma (& fellow sushi lover:)
How about testing some samples from Publix? I've always wondered how long the sushi really sits out there.
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