Why is fish treated with carbon monoxide?
Chef's answer
Carbon monoxide is used to treat fresh fish in order to retain its fresh red appearance for a longer period. It reacts with the oxy-myoglobin to form a fairly stable cherry red carboxy-myoglobin complex that may mask spoilage, because the CO-complex can be stable beyond the microbiological shelf life of the meat..
Frequently asked Questions 🎓
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Red meat products are somewhat like sliced apples. ... But by eliminating the oxygen from the package and adding minute amounts of carbon monoxide along with other protective gases to the headspace of the red meat packages, products like ground beef can maintain their appealing red color throughout their shelf life..
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Most people with a mild exposure to carbon monoxide experience headaches, fatigue, and nausea. Unfortunately, the symptoms are easily overlooked because they are often flu-like. Medium exposure can cause you to experience a throbbing headache, drowsiness, disorientation, and an accelerated heart rate..
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You're not going to smell that typical gas-leak odor: Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. It's also common because it comes from incomplete burning of anything that contains carbon: kerosene, gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, and propane..
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COCarbon monoxide/FormulaSearch for: What is formula of carbon monoxide?.
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The practice of using carbon monoxide is deceptive to you, the consumer, and is most commonly found in frozen Tilapia from China, Vietnam and Thailand. The good news is that Tilapia from Honduras, Mexico or Indonesia are not treated with CO (as pictured below)..
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Fresh, untreated tilapia tends to have a pink vein (the bloodline) running down the center of the filet. Carbon monoxide treated tilapia has a red and almost orange vein. Check out the color of recently filleted tilapia. It's more of a faded red and dark pink.
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Meat treated with CO is safe to eat. CO is only hazardous if you breathe it, but once it is chemically combined with the meat it can't hurt you, so after you open a package of ground beef there will be few, if any, molecules of CO to breathe. ... Not everyone is in favor of using CO in meat packaging.
A few more cooking questions 📍