Seafood in China, safe?

[kongli]

I will be traveling to Yan Tai tomorrow and there will no doubt be a number of opportunities to eat seafood.

How safe is seafood in China, and specifically in the coastal cities?

I have eaten my fair share of fish and prawns here and not had any problems, but for some reason I am skeptical of eating seafood from an ocean town. Theoretically it should be more fresh and less susceptible to bacteria and such, right?

What are all your experiences with seafood in China? Do you tend to avoid it or just dig in and pray?

[gougou]

I think bacteria are less of a problem than deposits of chemicals such as mercury, which can be found in sea fish all over the world but reaches very high concentrations in China. Many people suggest not to eat seafood more than once a week to avoid long-term health dangers.

[kongli]

Yea, I am more worried about 'food poisoning' etc. But I did not know that fish from China had higher concentrations. Not that I was on a pure seafood diet by any means, but it is good to know I shouldn't eat too much fish. Unless I can find a place that sells free range tilapia, preferably breaded...mmmmmm.

Thanks!

[roddy]

You'll quite possibly get to see it alive before you eat it, so at least you know it's fresh.

[Duncan Leung]

I would think that eating sea-food from an ocean town would be safer than from an inland city- that's usually my rule about eating seafood anywhere.

[fanglu]

I ate a fair bit of seafood in Yantai and didn't get sick.

[Melody Wang]

Hi, I'm Chinese. Yan Tai is a beautiful beach city and the sea food there is diversified. Actually you don't have to worry about the seafood security in China. The food poisoning incident rarely occured. However, to avoid any problems such as diarrhea, you can choose the standard restaurants rather than the street vendor. What's more, the seafood cooked with garlic（大蒜, Da Suan） and vinegar（醋, Cu） is usually the most safest way, you can inform the waiter when eating. Each time I eat crab, I always dip the sauce mixed with garlic and vinegar.

[kongli]

Hey, Thanks for the tips.

Funny, my girlfriend always encourages me to eat crab/shellfish with vinegar to prevent getting ill. I had never heard of eating crab this way before. In the west, people traitionally eat crab with butter and lemon. But the Chinese I have meet just laugh at the idea....

Anyway thanks again, and I love garlic so that should be no problem.

[Duncan Leung]

Hmm, you're right- I never realized that. I've always eaten crab with vinegar. I guess definitely healthier than butter =)

[doraemon]

I actually come from Yantai. I remember when I was around 10 years old and I went to an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet restaurant over there. I had about a plate of oysters that night, and the next day I woke with a painful stomachache and I nearly vomited. I most certainly did have diahorrea. And that was after I boiled all the oysters in water (each customer gets a small pot to boil their seafood). That was a pretty bad experience but then again, I used to eat seafood literally everyday whenever I visited China so I guess that time was a one-off. I don't recall ever having any other problems so it should be safe. You'll really regret it if you don't try seafood in Yantai, that's one of the foods it's most famous for. B)

In order to avoid any problems though, keep away from cheap restaurants and only go to the more expensive ones. At least the food will be cooked properly there. And if you can, like a lot of people already suggested, eat your seafood with garlic and vinegar (especially the more exotic ones, I think fish and prawns should be OK). It actually really helps!

[Melody Wang]

Hi, I feel glad that you like my tips.

In China, some seafood dish is also use a little bit lemon juice to get rid of the fishy smell and add more flavour. ^^