How Safe Is Your Shrimp to Be Consumed? Learn How to Choose!

It is better to always check how safe is your shrimp to ensure that the seafood edible and does not contain harmful things. Shrimp is an important commodity in aquaculture industry because it is distributed and exported to various countries and each year, large shrimp suppliers can produce tons of shrimp to be sold worldwide. The shrimp that sold at your local grocery stores or supermarket can be sourced from either wild caught or shrimp farms. For your information, shrimp harvested from the farms sometimes can contain harmful things and this is why many countries applied safety regulation regarding imported seafood products.

How safe is your shrimp that sourced from farms?
Most of the shrimp sold in the market is cultivated in the huge tanks or ponds. This farmed shrimp were fed by commercial pellets which sometimes containing antibiotic to prevent any diseases. However, if the tanks or ponds are not carefully and properly managed, there can be contaminated by chemical things, fecal matter, and the foods can be built up which in the end decay. Both algae and bacteria can begin to grow and then diseases can start to set in and sometimes it encourage the farmers to use drugs and other chemical things in order to prevent the disease. In conclusion, such farming practice lead to several concerns especially how safe is your shrimp to be eaten as well as the environmental damages that possible to happen.

For the consumers, the dilemma will start when you want to pick the shrimp out of the grocery stores because it is difficult to choose the best, safe, and edible shrimp. Sometimes the names and labels are confusing and even meaningless or for the worst, they can be deceptive. And there are shrimp suppliers or sellers who do not want to tell the consumers about where the shrimp taken from. The shrimp may be labeled as “wild” or “natural”, however they can be in fact are not fresher and this is why it is important to be smart when ordering and buying shrimp especially if you want to bulk order them for your business.
How safe is your shrimp? To buy the safest and the cleanest shrimp, there are things you should consider such as:
1.      Choose wild caught shrimp if possible
Wild caught shrimp are free from antibiotics or other chemical things that sometimes farmed shrimp being feed on by the farmers. That’s why, when shopping you can look for sustainable shrimp which is wild caught and although it is true they are more expensive, but at least you can sure that they are likely have fewer chemical things and toxic or even bacteria.

2.      Find shrimp suppliers who can specify the origin of the shrimps
The next thing you should do to buy the safest shrimp is that, you need to find shrimp suppliers who can specify the origin of the shrimps. It is quite challenging to find such sellers but it is not impossible. You can ask for recommendation for local shrimp producers, distributors, or sellers and even grocery stores. When you ask them about where the shrimp comes from then a good seller will sure able to tell you the origin of the shrimp.
3.      Look for certifications
When buying shrimps especially if you want to order large quantities of shrimp for your restaurant or market, you should always look for certifications from major organization that ensures the safety of the shrimps. How safe is your shrimp can be ensured by the validity of such certifications, for example certificate from Marine Stewardship Council or Wild American Shrimp. Or if you cannot have an access for fresh and wild shrimp but farmed shrimp then you can look for Best Aquaculture Practices label to make sure that the shrimp taken from the farms are in good condition and they are raised without antibiotics or other chemical practices.

Those considerations hopefully can help you to find clean and safe shrimp to be consumed for any practices. If you cannot find wild caught and fresh shrimp, then it is okay to go frozen shrimp as long as you can get information where they are come from. How safe is your shrimp is in the end a matter of how smart you can pick out healthiest shrimp seafood.