Can I eat this?

[Fruitloop]

Hi all...is it ok to eat seafood highlighter during pregnancy? My sister will be making a seafood salad tomorrow night and just thinking about it is making me hungry! She will be buying it already frozen and will be defrosting it in the fridge and it will only be dressed with lemon juice.

[Trillian]

I think it should be OK, so long as it is kept cold all the time and it isn't sitting out for long tomorrow night (better still, get yours first ) Personally, the smell of the stuff made me ill LOL.

[Alan]

The Australian Dietary Guidelines advise eating one or two meals with fish every week for good health. Pregnant women can safely eat one or two meals of fish each week but they should choose the type of fish carefully.

Avoid fish with high levels of mercury - these are billfish (swordfish, broadbill and marlin), shark (flake), orange roughy (sea perch), gemfish, southern blue fin tuna and catfish.
Limit other fish, such as tuna steaks, to one portion per week or two 140g cans of tuna per week (smaller tuna contain less mercury).
There is no restriction needed on the amount of salmon, including canned salmon, which is eaten.
Anchovies and sardines should be OK. Im not sure about muscles and oysters though.
Most shellfish are filter feeders and can absorb all sorts of yucky stuff. I think I would give them a miss or only have a small amount. Also I would not advise eating any raw fish or shellfish.

[Rouge]

Is it actually made of seafood though?! I thought it was all artificial LOL! Or was that just an old wives tale?

*hugs*
Cailin

[Trillian]

I never thought it was *real* seafood either LOL - more along the lines of tripe?

[Rouge]

Yeah I just tried to search and it comes up as "imitation crab" but I'm finding it hard to find the ingredients list... still looking...

ETA: Found this...

Imitation Crab Meat
Perry Romanowski

Imitation crab meat is a seafood product made by blending processed fish, known as surimi, with various texturizing ingredients, flavorants, and colorants. First invented in the mid-1970s, imitation crab meat has become a popular food in the United States, with annual sales of over $250 million. Surimi is the primary ingredient used to create imitation crab meat. It is mostly composed of fish myofibrillar proteins. These proteins are responsible for the quintessential characteristic of surimi that makes imitation crab meat manufacture possible, namely the ability to form a sturdy gel. The gel can be shaped and cut into thin strips which, when rolled together, mimic the texture of real crab meat.

*hugs*
Cailin

[Fruitloop]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to answer! I'm sure if I have a serving tomorrow, I'll go right off it for the rest of my pregnancy...that is what is happening at the moment with every other craving I have!

It's pretty scary when you read exactly what is in the stuff tho! Thanks for the info Cailin!

I just had a look on the Austrimi website (the company that manufactures the stuff) and the listed ingredients are:

White Fish, Starch, Albumen, Soy Protein, Sugar, Salt, Wine, Vegetable Oil, Gluten, Flavour Enhancer (621), Crab Flavour, Honey, Butter, Food Colouring (120), Natural Spices, Water Added.

Do you think it is still safe to eat? TIA!

ETA: I also found the fish they use to make the 'Surimi' - Alaskan Pollock, Blue Grenadier and Pacific Whiting OR threadfin bream and red fish.

[Trillian]

Sounds like no one should be eating it LOL. Although it doesn't have any nasties in the ingredients. I just can't being myself to eat the stuff, but DH loves it *spew*

[Rouge]

Surimi is fish mince made from mild flavoured white fish. The fish is skinned, de-boned and filleted. Before mincing it is rinsed to tone down taste and smell. The product is minced and pressed into blocks, frozen and then used by companies like Austrimi Seafoods to manufacture Surimi based products.
The type of white fish used originally for the production of surimi was Alaskan Pollock however, stock reduction and competition has required the utilisation of other species. Austrimi Seafoods manufactures from white fish species fished from cold water and warm water. Examples of cold water species include Alaskan Pollock, Blue Grenadier and Pacific Whiting. Warm water fish is threadfin bream and red fish. Any other available species are also used if they are able to meet the necessary specifications to produce a quality product. Lean white fish is preferred over fatty fish species because these species tend to be darker in colour and high in lipid content thereby reducing the beneficial health factors of surimi based products.

Therefore, surimi is an intermediate product, which is used to make other products. It is Austrimi Seafoods primary raw ingredient. The addition of flavours and colours together with various moulding processes gives Austrimi Seafoods the ability to produce products such as imitation crab meat, scallop flavoured bites, formed Kalamari rings and the list goes on.

The Japanese have been using Surimi and products manufactured from surimi for many hundreds of years as it has been proven to be high in protein and omega three oils, both of which are beneficial to health.

The original surimi production process was as follows and the basic principles still

This from the Austrimi website I actually went there first lol I should have copied the ingredients and info *duh me*

I'd say so long as the ingredients aren't on the no go list and the prep is ok you should be fine... *or* (just to throw a spanner in the works) should it be treated similarly to processed meats with regards to listeria?

*hugs*
Cailin

[Trillian]

I still think it would come down to the prep and making sure that it has been kept cold, so it should be ok.

[{sarah}]

I would say if you're going to have it buy it frozen. Don't go to Coles etc or even a fish shop and buy it "fresh" because it is not fresh, it is only thawed. This sort of thing is snap frozen when it is manufactured, so you CANNOT buy it fresh ever.

ETA: Cailin is right, it's made of a variety of different seafoods. The tripe story is an old wive's tale

[Fruitloop]

Thank you for everyone's input! It's so funny that before pregnancy I didn't think twice before popping something into my mouth! *hehe* I have decided that yes, I will have a small serving, just to satisfy my craving (especially seeing I have been reallllly good with not eating any norty foods) and as my sister knows I am pregnant (and was 10x as cautious as I am when she was pregnant) she will be preparing it as carefully and freshly as possible

Hope everyone has a great New Years Eve!!! *hugs*

[Trillian]

But Caro, listeria isn't restricted to one type of food, listeria and other nasties can be anywhere which is why the correct food prep of all foods is essential. I do stay away from processed meats like salami etc when pg, but I do eat other stuff like devon and bologna etc if I know that it has been kept properly.

[~shazz~]

i hope you enjoyed your serve of seafood salad i know i was so paranoid i wouldn't touch anything that even had a question mark against it but it so tuanted me i am a big seafood eater and every christmas it is prawns prawns and more prawns i missed out last christmas so this christmas made up for 10 fold yummm

[Fruitloop]

Well, new years eve has passed and what did I do? *hehe* No seafood salad for me! I just didn't think it was worth the stress or worry - if it's iffy, then I'm not eating it! But thank you everyone for your input and hopefully this thread may answer someone else's questions in the future! There was plenty of other food to fill myself up on last night, so much so, my DH had to rollllll me out of there!

[pint]

eeeks I have been eating this - hot though I love it.

I am a modified vegetarian. I have gone off meat so I really liked eating this

Thanks for posting this though.