cheap prawns a no no !!

[choppa]

scott,,, you've touched on a very good point,,,how many episodes of that weekly tv show does it take to say NO you can't bring foodstuffs into our country hidden in your luggage,,,we'll catch you

and yet,,we bring in tonnes of fruit/processed foodstuff etc in refridgerated containers,, and on average 35% is inspected and the rest pass through,, (sourced from aust customs report 2005/2006)

scary eh,,,,,and yeh,,,its part of trade agreements and keeping a good repore with our neighbouring countries,,

america doesn't import 1 % of BASA,,australia has the honor of being the world largest importer here,,,disregarding what ever name you cal it,,,,,its still catfish

roz has the right idea,,,,and i have followed it,,,,i buy my prawns for bait only from the deli at the local supermarket,,,its cheaper than buying packets from the servo,,,and hence why they duck for cover when they see me making a bee line for the counter,,,i want to know exactly where it came from,,

but as stated earlier on the piece,,,this has been going on for ages,,,its only in the past 12 or so months that we've been made truly aware of it

choppa

[wayneoro]

squiggle and roz if our meat is as you say # there is nothing we can do about # #with prawns and catfish we have a choise they say the proof is in the eating # # squiggle and roz if you and your family are ever coming near here # burnett/isis # #give me a wk notice and will go catch you some local seafood cheers wayne p.s year year the ladies have me well trained

[Squiggle]

But Wayne I can catch my own local seafood . If NSW laws were different we might even being able to catch prawns easier...but no cast nets allowed. Muddies are just as easy from the shore as they are trying from a boat, so no problems there.
It's just them darn prawns lol..

[wayneoro]

youre a top sort squiggle cant believe your from nsw

[GrahameA]

Good Morning All

As a result of this post I checked out the price of 'Bait Prawns' when I was at the Gold Coast yesterday.

The price at the supplier I checked was selling them for $5:50 per 200gm packet or if you prefer $27:50 per kg.

A little high I thought, but I wonder of people really notice?

[BillR]

I bought a 5kg box of vanamei prawns (from China according to the box) for christmas at $10 a kg. Good to eat, firm and clean. Had a barbeque and everyone liked them. I have often bought aussie farmed prawns at $16 a kg and they are just as good as the imported stuff. Problem is they are harder to find. Maybe the aussie farms just aren't able to produce enough yet, but that will come.

I don't buy wild caught prawns for the environmental issues (for me it is the bycatch that is of concern), but also I don't buy them for the variability in quality. No matter what you pay for them it is a lucky dip if you are going to get good quality or not. Too often they can be bl***y awful.

Happy new year to everyone and for all of us that like crabs to eat, you don't want to know what they eat.
BillR

[wayneoro]

billr # you have hit on a very good point # #if the carton of asian prawns you bought had been opened and defrosted by a shop for normal retail they may not have been ok # #same with aussi prawns frozen in cartons on the trawler its what happens in the retail shop how many times are unsold stock refrozen or just kept to long in the window display i used to go to a fish shop in southport next to the prop; repair shop there and buy his old stock [v.cheap] for bait so when i moved to bundy looking for same deal no one ever had any i guess they are all very good at guessing the right amount to defrost so i think that might cover the hit or miss on quality puzzle

[choppa]

Maybe the aussie farms just aren't able to produce enough yet, but that will come.


BillR

bill,,,a report in the Sunshine Coast Daily stated that Mooloolaba Seafood had orders up to Chrissie for over 20 tonne
of prawns,,,from far afield as victoria,,, and only had 12 tonne to distribute,,,

the catch here was over 60% of the orders were placed in 2005,,and were still current,, and ""wild prawn"" i believe was not included in this

choppa

[BillR]

billr # you have hit on a very good point # #if the carton of asian prawns you bought had been opened and defrosted by a shop for normal retail they may not have been ok # #same with aussi prawns frozen in cartons on the trawler its what happens in the retail shop # how many times are unsold stock refrozen or just kept to long in the window display # # i used to go to a fish shop in southport #next to the prop; repair shop there and buy his old stock [v.cheap] for bait # #so when i moved to bundy looking for same deal no one ever had any # # i guess they are all very good at guessing the right amount to #defrost # # so i think that might cover the hit or miss on quality puzzle # #

Wayneoro,

You are right about the retailers. Its a hard game for them to keep seafood fresh, especially in our climate. But some do it well.

I check for full eyes and a clean smell and taste test when convenient. However the number of times I have been ripped off when it turns out the wild prawns are tasteless or more commonly too salty for any normal human to eat.

Where does that salt come from? Do you know? I understood that prawns, like crabs, squid and fish naturally filter out the salt content of the seawater they live in. Otherwise the salt content would poison their systems. So who puts it in there and why?

BillR

[mickc]

Trawlers use salt on their ice to form a brine solution .It makes the ice more efficent to such an extent that the prawns are near frozen.

On friday the fish factory at colmslie had med green kings for $12/13 a kilo
good bait size ,good eating also.



mick

[wayneoro]

mate salt is a preservative and when cold the salt is absorbed by the prawns no taste is refrozen prawns best to buy whole carton as it came off trawler the big prob; is weight prawns are weighted before freezeing they weigh more when frozen so supermarkets will not sell you frozen unpacked frozen prawns because they will weigh less when defrosted well thats what woolworths told me

[Squiggle]

Woolworths... Think they may have been telling you porkies lol.

One of my sons worked for them mostly helping out in the deli.

All the cooked prawns that have been out front in the display units have to be desposed of at the end of each day.
They also used to sell frozen boxes of prawns if someone wanted them, the same went with Bilo etc.

Wonder why Woolies told you this?

[wayneoro]

squiggle woolies would not sell me loose frozen prawns because they weighted more but in the cartons they would because the weight was on the carton before they were frozen gee you people from nsw happy new year