National Geographics: A Healthy Catch

Legal Sea Foods Highlighted in

National Geographic in May 2002

Unlike steaks, fish come with no inspection seal, but fish producers meet government standards to ensure safety and freshness.

Keeping fresh fish moving fast and keeping it chilled at all times are two important factors in eliminating pathogens from the plate.

“We look at the eyes and the gills.  We smell the fish.  You want a sheen on the skin, a slime we call butter”
-Roger Berkowitz, CEO, Legal Sea Foods

 Legal Sea Foods, a Boston-based restaurant chain, was an early leader in instituting modern handling practices.  For company buyers each day begins at5 a.m. at piers in Gloucester, New Bedford and Boston.  They look for fish caught during the previous 48 hours, like the haddock unloaded in Gloucester, Massachusetts, by Fishermen Jose Batista and Manual Bianco (left).  Head buyer Bill Holler (Top) selects fish he will bid on the morning auction.  A big cod catches his eye because its body is still stiff, a sign of prime freshness.

The company eschews middlemen. Buyers send the fish in refrigerated trucks directly to the company’s quality-control laboratory and processing plant in the Boston suburb of Allston.  There two safety procedures common throughout the industry are conducted.  Microbiologists check fish and shellfish for toxins and bacteria, and other employees like Jose Lainez and Matthew Drayton (middle)  Handle fish,  which involves screening fillets on a light table to look for parasites.  Then it’s back to the refrigerator for the final leg of the trip to one of Legal Sea Foods’ 26 U.S. Restaurants.

Legal Sea Foods is proud of the series of safety checks it  runs before the fish hits the cooking fire.  They also hike menu prices to cover costs.  But judging by the popularity of this high-end fish restaurant, many customers don’t mind.