Safe to Buy Gulf of Mexico Seafood Online?
You bet it is!
Digital fishmongers are becoming quite an on-trend way for customers to buy their seafood in Florida, and thanks to technology that allows for the day’s fresh catch to be delivered straight away, the texture and the flavour of seafood is actually preserved better than ever before. Just check out the choice of online fish buying fresh from Florida’s own Wild Seafood Market…
Due to Covid-19, the fishing industry was hit quite severely because of the lack of face-to-face consumer interaction, restaurant closures, and safety measures. With many seafood businesses being hard hit – the place you previously bought your fresh fish was probably seriously affected.
However, suppose there’s one real positive that’s come out of the last year’s pandemic. In that case, it’s the offer of fresh, high-quality seafood that you can now buy directly from the suppliers online, so you can cut out the middlemen and get your seafood delivered directly to your door. For true seafood suppliers in local areas, the biggest impact was wholesale, with restaurants shut down however many groceries saw huge increases in demand which helped keep the doors wide open for the suppliers.
Because this is still a period of time when being outside is a constant source of stress for many people, and many are finding comfort in e-commerce and mail-order delivery services. And these kinds of services are particularly helpful when it comes to seafood.
So, just because you’ve been stuck at home doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy fish that was freshly caught just a day ago. Of course, you don’t want to buy just any old fish – because, ethics aside for a second, if fish isn’t dealt with properly, you’ll find the taste can be pretty dodgy…
Finding a Florida seafood online supplier like us at Wild Seafood Market, for example, means you’ll know the species, where it was caught, how it was raised (in the wild) as well as the taste, texture and nutritional information, all at the touch of a button. We have a seafood market safe, secure and second to none!
Order carefully
The promise of online seafood products is alluring – better value for the customer, the freshest fish, and a higher price for the fishermen. However, be careful where you order your fish from. Buy fish that was sourced in the U.S. does not always mean it wasn’t farm-raised. Buying fish online in general certainly does not mean it was freshly caught. Many of the large online sellers actually freeze huge amounts of fish that are often brought in from overseas and may have been frozen for months. One great way to know your seafood was local, sustainably caught and thus coming to you fresh is to look for the Gulf Wild tag on the actual products and images on the companies website. This tag indicates the fish was caught in the Gulf of Mexico and via the code on the tag, consumers can trace the fish back to where it was caught, when it was caught, and all the stops it’s made along the way to your kitchen.
Florida Seafood Online
From crab claws, salmon, stone crab, scallops, lobster, oysters, shrimp and tuna, you can now get fresh seafood delivered directly in a box to your home straight from the company within hours of the foods being caught and placed in ice-filled cases.
All you have to do is choose your favourite seafood species, and it will be packed with a special ice cooler in a fully recyclable cooler and shipped by air to your doorstep, unless you live in Florida, in which case Ground shipping is optional. No worries about health and safety.
Sustainable Success
Seafood is described as sustainable when that particular species of fish is managed in such a way that provides for consumers’ needs without damaging the species’ ability to reproduce and be available for future generations. Suppose you buy fish managed under a U.S. fishery management plan. In that case, you can be assured it meets ten national standards – Florida fishermen are required to adhere to federal and state laws when harvesting seafood.
So, if you have ever wondered why is the fish we eat 2-3 weeks old? Or why has it had to pass through four or five pairs of hands to get to your plate? Or why is 80% of it imported? The reason is simple… the dollar. Adhering to the United States fishing requirements means U.S. suppliers have to also charge a certain amount to account for the extra costs behind adhering to these standards (which proper seafood suppliers gladly pay) in order to make a living. On the flip side, not only do overseas suppliers have the ability to charge far less, they can and often do overfish, giving them far more product to supply. Leaving empty oceans in their wake. Thus, when you buy from a U.S. supplier, you’re not only supporting American fishermen, you’re also thwarting an epidemic of non-sustainable, over-fishing happening across the globe.
Win, win.
Wild Seafood Market’s online store sources only the highest quality fish and guarantees table freshness. The responsibly harvested seafood is hand-picked, filleted and shipped within hours of arriving from the sea, so you know it is fresh – and safe.
Florida Fresh Seafood
Florida ranks among the top 12 U.S. states for fresh seafood production, and Florida fishermen catch more than 84 per cent of the nation’s supply of grouper, pompano, mullet, stone crab, pink shrimp, spiny lobsters and Spanish mackerel.
Buying seafood online often rivals prices fishmongers or supermarkets adds an extra layer of convenience and safety because of the speed of delivery and supports small and local fisheries by ensuring all the products has a home to be delivered to.
Because of the pandemic, it appears that people are already more likely to cook from their favourite dishes home and that consumer buying behaviour is going to permanently change now that people have experienced what is possible from the internet.
Succulent Seafood
Online seafood buying also affords a multitude of perks—much of which are especially difficult to enjoy when you can’t make it to your local market.
After ordering through the online marketplace, fish will be delivered to you directly, and you’ll find that whatever choice you’ve made, all products offer transparent sourcing and astonishingly fresh flavour.
So, if you fancy staying at home and putting on your chef’s hat, then you should seriously check out the online trend of buying seafood – safe, succulent seafood at the touch of a button – there’s nothing fishy about that!
