At The Fresh Market, we only offer seafood that is “fresh” — after all, it’s part of our name. However, what is fresh seafood and what does “fresh” truly mean? Does fresh mean never frozen? Or does fresh mean only that the product is wholesome and of high quality?

At every opportunity, we offer fresh fish that are caught and delivered to your local store within two to five days of the catch. With modern avenues of communication and transportation, most fish can be brought to the consumer market with many days of product life remaining, even from thousands of miles away! For instance, Grouper may be caught on Monday in the Gulf of Mexico, shipped to our vendor on Monday night, then delivered to us before our store opens Wednesday morning. Wild Salmon can be caught, flown to Seattle, and then flown to our vendors in as few as three days. Through efficient cold-chain management, these salmon may have five days of shelf life remaining from the time we receive them!

In a perfect world, we would only offer fresh items that had never been frozen. However, for various reasons we may sometimes carry seafood products that are “previously frozen” or “frozen at sea”. The seasonality of Halibut and Wild Salmon dictates that these fish are simply not available fresh for six months per year. Therefore, we choose to carry the “frozen at sea” versions of these items when the fresh fish are not available. Additionally, the origin of some items prevents us from offering them fresh. For instance, Lake Victoria Perch is caught in Uganda, and Orange Roughy is caught in New Zealand and flying these items in fresh can be expensive. Value can be important with items such as cooked shrimp and Chilean sea bass; the frozen versions of these items have a much lower cost than the fresh products with no appreciable loss in quality.

As with all proteins, fish cells are composed largely of water. If not done correctly, the freezing and thawing of such products can cause irreversible damage to the cells that make up the fish. Along with our suppliers, we take great care to make sure that our frozen fish are handled correctly, and we closely follow the “fast freeze, slow thaw” dictate for frozen seafood, unless not appropriate for a particular fish.

That said, there is no doubt that fish that are never frozen, that are carefully handled and then delivered to our store in a matter of days are preferable to frozen seafood products. At The Fresh Market, we will offer fresh, never frozen seafood wherever possible and we are committed to providing the highest quality seafood in our case at all times!