Q: How is fish graded?

A: Currently there is no standard for grading tunas, no established parameters or color chart for a grader to refer to; the final determination is subjective, based on the graders experience. Rather, the grader will take into account 5 key elements: Color, Fat Content, Freshness, Texture, and Size/Shape, and rate the fish on a scale of #1, #2, and #3 with #1 being the best. For frozen tuna, grade is determined primarily by color; fat content is a separate factor. Grade is not determined by the species of the fish. Bigeye, Bluefin, and Yellowfin each can be either A or B grade depending on the condition of the individual fish.

Fat content is not conditional on the size of the fish; big and small fish both can have fat, depending on the season. Fatty fish live in colder waters, such as those off the East Coast, North Atlantic, South Africa, South Atlantic and South Pacific. Fish that live in warmer waters, such as those off the Philippines and Indonesia, have less fat content. One exception to the rule is Ecuador, which is close to the equator, but is subject to an upwelling of cold-water currents, so it produces fatty fish.

All tuna have sinew, however larger fish do have larger membranes and tend to get tougher towards the tail than smaller fish. The center of the fish has more sinew as it spirals out from the middle.

Q: What is the difference between Tasteless Smoke and CO?

A: The tasteless smoke treatment is an all natural process that uses filtered smoke generated from wood sawdust to naturally preserve the fresh-caught flavor, color and texture of frozen seafood without imparting a smoke taste or odor. Tasteless smoke "fixes" and preserves the original quality and color of seafood that is frozen and later defrosted. Industrial carbon monoxide gas treatment can have concentrations much higher than smoke to "intensify" and enhance the seafood color thus allowing the potential adulteration of lower quality fish. Therefore, tasteless smoke can be viewed as a safer treatment process since its carbon monoxide content is naturally limited to a minority percentage of the treatment gas as carbon monoxide is only one of several gases produced by burning wood sawdust.

Q: What is cryogenic freezing?

A: Cryogenic freezing is an advanced, accelerated form of blast freezing in which products are exposed to very cold air or, more commonly, to sprays of liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide at temperatures of minus 150 degrees F or colder.

Also known as ultra-rapid freezing, cryogenic freezing is accomplished much more quickly than traditional blast freezing, especially for products less than 2" thick (five minutes for small shrimp or small fish fillets). It offers distinct quality benefits, including a taste and texture more resembling fresh seafood.

Cryogenically frozen seafood usually exhibits minimal dehydration and avoids the "cardboard" taste associated with improperly or slowly frozen products. A down side to Cryogenically frozen seafood (especially fillets) is that it can develop a chalky appearance and become quite brittle, shattering easily if dropped. In addition, cryogenically frozen seafood may be a bit more expensive than seafood frozen by other methods.