Eli5: Why does seafood seem to spoil so quick?
In: 162
Quite simply? Microbes: Bacteria, Viruses, etc. – some of it pathogenic (the ones that make us sick). The ocean is *full* of them.
>A single liter of seawater has about one billion bacteria and 10 billion viruses.[Source](https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/microbes/marine-microbes)
Now imagine you’re eating something that’s been marinated in all these microbes its entire life. Then it dies and all those microbes suddenly have a new food source that no longer has an immune system to keep them at bay. The longer that dead seafood sits, the more those microbes eat, and more importantly reproduce. High levels of these pathogens are what are responsible for causing spoilage and sickness.
Properly sourcing, cleaning, storing, and cooking seafood (and any other protein) can reduce the amount of pathogens found in our seafood, but some (especially shellfish) have especially short storage life.
There are also enzymes found in seafood that can cause it to break down and see negative changes in texture and flavor, but those don’t necessarily cause the food to become spoiled. The spoiled part is from microorganisms eating it and shitting toxic feces all over the place, or colonizing it in massive quantities that enough survive your stomach’s acid and proceed to invade and start trying to eat your body, too.
Welcome to food poisoning.
edit: a parenthesis
Latest Answers