# I am thinking this frozen yellowfin tuna has gone bad?



## dialout

This was caught this summer, cut into steaks, vacuum sealed, and frozen. I got a pack out today and thawed it out. As it thawed, it went from a reddish fresh tuna color to a grayish color—kind of like when you leave a steak in the fridge a day too long. There is also a fishy smell, and a few chunks have a greenish tint rainbow sheen on them. I have never had this happen before.

I am going to try and attach a photo.











The one on the left has that rainbow sheen to it...I cut the one on the right open, so you could see the color goes all the way through, not just the freezer burn on the outside.


Any thoughts? I have a fair amount of tuna left, and it would be a shame to think something went wrong in storing it.


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## Reelturner

Will give you a something to think about.

Over the years our family has caught lots of yellowfin, blackfin, etc. As far as this summer.....no that is NOT too long AT ALL for it to go bad at all. We have ate vacuum sealed and regular frozen tuna way longer than that.

When in the past we have laid out tuna to thaw we have noticed that the reddish tuna color fades with time somewhat to a grayish darker color also. Still a good "sweet" oily somewhat tuna smell. And it was very, very good.

Now I do not know about the greenish rainbow sheen you are talking about....never seen that. 

I would assume that you did or when the tuna was caught where if you caught it or someone else did, it was put in ice as soon as coming over the transom........right??

You didn't mention this......is it possible that the freezer where you had it in got mistakenly "unplugged" then later after realizing it got plugged back in and no one said anything about it??? You have to consider this as a possibility. Did you have someone keep it in their freezer away from your house???

If you have quite a lot of tuna I would take a package or two of it to someone else if their close by and let them check it for you and smell it and go from there. Good luck as tuna is a very tasty dish especially blackened on the grill. 

Let us know what you find out. Be safe.

RT


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## dialout

well...being the waste not type I cooked it right after this post and I am still alive, and doing well. 

after some google searches I discovered that tuna will "go chocolate" and be a brownish red color. apparently the bright red fresh color in store bought tuna is due to treatments of carbon monoxide gas at processing plants. The brown color is the natural color, although you dont see it much because it appears much less appetizing looking. That part i can confirm... 

I did catch the tuna myself, and it was iced immediately. within a few hours it was filleted out into loins( at the dock), and shortly after that cut into steaks by me and frozen. This may be part of the problem, because apparently the preferred method of storage is to leave it in loin form for freezing and cut the steaks before cooking...but this is probably a case of personal preference. 

I did see a few mentions of the rainbow coloring on the flesh, but could not determine what it was caused by so those were discarded. 

Blackened them with some Cajun seasoning, although i didnt feel like shoveling the snow from the grill so i cooked them in the skillet...tasted like it should...fantastic. 

I do hope some more people comment here, I am curious if this discoloration is a normal occurrence, or if I just decided to believe it because I was hungry.


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## ez2cdave

When in DOUBT, CHUCK it OUT !!!


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## solid7

That "sheen" appears in just about every oily fish. Best example that I can give, is that you'll see it regularly in bluefish that are soaked overnight in ice water. No worries!

Tuna are warm-blooded fish, and therefore, they exhibit the same sort of characteristics as red meat when the blood oxidizes. They turn brown when stored, and gray when cooked. Doesn't sound to me like you have an issue at all. Tastes best when absolutely fresh, but just fine as you have described it.


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## Reelturner

I can't explain the rainbow coloring your talking about but the reddish coloring always faded with us.

We do not overcook our tuna. Medium rare just like we like our steaks and thrown into a hot smoking cast iron pan for about 2 1/2 min. maybe 3 min. on each side and immediately to the table where everything else is set and your ready to sink a fork in the the "way."

Yes, we use the cajun too. Or just salt and pepper with the loins rubbed down with olive oil. I think the oil seals in the juices.

We slice our tuna loins into smaller pieces anywhere from 1" thick up to 2 1/2" pieces depending on how the cuts finished and of course the smaller pieces we didn't cook as long per side. We also made sure that any of the darker, red blood line was discarded so when thawed it was ready to season and throw in the pan.

I thought the yellowfin was good until we caught blackfin. I couldn't really tell much difference. Maybe that is why I've sometimes heard of people describing the blackfin tuna as BLT's. I like bacon and the black is just as juicy and tender as bacon. Yum. Yum.



Damn fine eating there. RT


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## IPNURWATER

I heard to help keep the quality of the fish while vacuum sealing it helps to flash freeze the meat .not sure it that's the correct term but you basically dip in water leave on metal pan till the water freezes then repeat about few times .then vacuum seal. Supposedly it keeps the color better , fish fresher, and a better vacuum for longer periods of time.... I also heard that you can plastic wrap it before you freeze the water to it before vacuum sealing .It suppose to help moisture from getting in the fish keeping it fresher and makes the thawing process not a messy.


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## Ryan Y

The sheen is the oil in the meat. It just refracts the light a little.

Interesting side note. Tuna can and will build histamines when stressed. (Think allergic reaction in a human.) Tuna is one particular fish that if the histamines build to much in the fish, a person can get an allergic reaction just like that of Shellfish. 
If you ever see "Sashimi Grade" on the tuna (or any other migratory fish) it means that the fish was immediately killed and gutted/bled after capture and stuffed with ice to stop the build up of the histamines. I'm sure everyone that has seen wicked tuna has seen the boats bleed and stuff the fish with ice. The problem comes when someone drops a tuna in the ice box and doesn't bleed it right away. Then takes it out a few hours later to have a piece of the meat on the boat. Use Caution then.

Like others have stated, I've eaten tuna after being frozen and it looked a lot darker. Once cooked it looked and tasted the same.


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## 1BadF350

Just checking to see if dialout is still alive....and i call dibs on his gear and tackle.


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## solid7

1BadF350 said:


> Just checking to see if dialout is still alive....and i call dibs on his gear and tackle.


DAMNIT!!! Why didn't I think of that?!?!


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## dialout

That's funny...still kicking boys.


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## Yakkin

Did it look anything like this?


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## surfchunker

as long as bag was still sucked up tight it's probably ok ... I've had King Mackeral for 3 years and was still good ... I rinse with cold water pat dry and vacuum


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## dirtyhandslopez

Not fish I know, but anyone ever had "aged beef"? It's kept cold and stored till it goes green on the outside then they cut the green bits off. So I am told. 
Supposed to be a delicasy...


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## Alexy

dirtyhandslopez said:


> Not fish I know, but anyone ever had "aged beef"? It's kept cold and stored till it goes green on the outside then they cut the green bits off. So I am told.
> Supposed to be a delicasy...


It is how almost all beef used to be aged..... Most good butcher operations still "dry hang" beef for 15-30 days but you can lose up to 30% of the weight of the beef by doing that. You will never see that meat in stores it is sent to high end steak houses. or Commercial chefs. 
Just about all commercial meat in stores is now wet aged where they seal it in a bag and after 2-3 days it is done and you loose almost no weight when that is done.


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