Editorial/Opinion
Commotion in the Kitchen
By h.b.
Dec 11, 2006 - 7:10 AM

EDITORIAL COMMENT -

The Royal Decree published last week obliging chefs to pre-freeze fish before serving it raw has upset many cooks in the kitchen.

At the centre of the division is a parasite, no larger than 1 cm in length, Anisakis or Herring Worm, which can cause allergies and serious illness when consumed by humans.

The AESA – The Spanish Food Safety Agency, has recently detected that a third of the fish tested on quaysides in Spain has the parasite. It’s a high number, and so the Government has acted and ordered that before serving raw fish must be frozen to -20ºC for 24 hours to prevent the danger. Doctors at hospitals in Madrid are quoted in the Spanish press as saying that cases of Anisakis have indeed multiplied of late.

Obviously if there is a safety issue here the Government must act, but the food professionals, including Sushi chefs, say that correct cleaning of the fish makes the freezing unnecessary, and that the process changes the taste and texture of their dishes. Sushi chefs use a drying paper which they say removes any parasites not detected visually.

Debate is served in the country where more fish per head is consumed than anywhere else in the world, and where Boquerones en Vinagre are almost as Spanish as tortilla.

Protection of the population, or the start of the nanny state? At least with the Government’s action the population knows more about the risks, and can now make a more informed personal choice.