Fresh seafood and vegetables

[irman]

Originally Posted by johninvegas

The best bet is to buy flash frozen seafood from Trader Joe's or someplace similar. It's frozen on the ship where it's caught usually in less than four hours after being brought aboard.

I've been told (never checked on it) that the USDA allows the sign "fresh seafood" on fish on ice that is up to seven days old.

Could be true, depending on who told you ...

Sea of Confusion Over 'Fresh Fish' Definition : Food: Congress may intervene with bills to protect the seafood buyer. - latimes
mentions :

What consumers consider "fresh" fish is often described by the seafood industry in Byerly's terminology: "fresh never frozen." But even if a consumer were to buy fish so labelled, there is no assurance that it has seen the ocean in recent days.

"The standard rule of thumb is that fish caught 10 days ago is fresh," Hasselback said. And that's one reason why frozen seafood can be better than fresh, she said.

Even when you live in a Seaside fishing town, the fish you get could be up to a week old, because the trawlers stay that long at sea. Some small modern fishing boats might return to port every day. Those boats are small and have high powered engines, unlike most medium boats which have diesel engines.

On a longline boat expect to work between 14-20 hours a day, depending on conditions and the catch. Longlining trips typically last between six and 28 days, though 60 days or longer trips are possible on some of the largest boats.

In most cases, it does not take more than two days to get their catch to other places in the USA via modern transportation means. If you live in Podunk Village, it may take up to 5 days...

I have not found any "rules" about how long a retailer can claim that their fish is fresh ...

The best thing to do is have the fish taken out of the display area (many times the lighting is specially created to make it look fresh), then look at it and smell it!