Has anyone had a reaction to swai?

[draperygoddess]

Last night my husband fixed some swai fillets, which I had not had before. He seasoned them with some ground hot pepper, which was spicier than I'd like, but there wasn't much of it and I only had one piece of the fish. Also had some sauteed green beans, which usually don't bother me, and some homemade sweet potato chips cooked in EVO. In less than two hours I was bloated and miserable. D started around bedtime and woke me up periodically during the night, despite three doses of Immodium. Has anyone else had a reaction to swai? I don't react to other seafood that I've tried. The fillets were frozen from Kroger, not pre-packaged, but from the meat department.

[JLH]

I never heard of it!

I hope you are better now.

[Martha]

Oh, I have eaten swai twice in the last week. These were also from Kroger, frozen, pre-packaged. I have never had swai before.

This might be an explanation of why I've been having D. Nothing so close in time, like your reaction, though. In each case, it was a softer BM the morning after, and diarrhea the second morning after eating swai for supper. I've never reacted to fish, so I thought this was just a lingering problem due to my accidentally putting soy sauce in my stir fry.

Now I'll know to watch more carefully for a reaction if I dare eat the swai again. It'll go in my "test at some later date" pile of food. Thanks for mentioning it.

Martha

[draperygoddess]

Martha,

I think I will call Kroger today and ask about it. Could be there is something in the preparation. If there isn't, I think I will just avoid swai from now on! My reaction time has gotten much quicker over the past few months, which is why I've assumed that there is a mast cell issue and have been taking Zyrtec. You experience kinda confirms for me that the problem was the swai, though I was pretty sure of it. Eek!

[Joefnh]

Cynthia being a lover of all things seafood I have tried Swai, not recently though. Swai is a catfish like species that is natively from the southeast Asian countries. It is now a common river farm raised fish and I believe is being raised in farm pens along the Mississippi river.

I was first introduced to it when I spent some time in Hong Kong, it was prepared well and tasted great. With this fish now being primarily a farm raised product I would be suspicious of the feeds especially if it is imported.

I have noticed with MC that I cannot tolerate as many fish species as I used to, my worst offender now is Tilapia...I used to eat that a lot.

[Zizzle]

Cynthia being a lover of all things seafood I have tried Swai, not recently though. Swai is a catfish like species that is natively from the southeast Asian countries. It is now a common river farm raised fish and I believe is being raised in farm pens along the Mississippi river.

I was first introduced to it when I spent some time in Hong Kong, it was prepared well and tasted great. With this fish now being primarily a farm raised product I would be suspicious of the feeds especially if it is imported.

Yikes, anything being farm raised in the Mississippi river gives me pause. Their feed is one thing, the totally toxic environment they are swimming in is another! Fish is slowly making it's way off my list, sadly. The mercury accumulation and other toxics in our waterways is just so hard to overlook. I only eat fish about once a week now, if that.

[Joefnh]

Your correct Zizzle, the fresh water hatcheries and farms are affected by the poor quality of the industrialized waterways and then you add to it the feeds they use which are questionable at best and I avoid all fish that are farm raised.

I am at the point that the only fish I eat is wild caught, from the ocean and from more remote locations like the north Atlantic or of the Alaskan coast. My favorite is north Atlantic salmon although for the moment I am avoiding it due to it seems to make my inflammation worse. At this point my lower spine is a very good and sensitive gauge to inflammation

[draperygoddess]

I went to my Kroger and asked them about the swai. The manager in the meat dept was very nice and went in the back to get one of the cartons. Sure enough, there is trisodium phosphate added to the fish, although this is not stated on the label on the individual packages. My guess is, that's what I reacted to. I have stopped buying pork at Kroger because all of theirs contain phosphates, and I was having problems every time I ate it.

I still think it's ridiculous that I have to ask these questions--meat should be meat, and if it's not, the label should say so!

[Martha]

My swai says it is a product of Vietnam, so at least I don't have to wonder about Mississippi sludge.

What is trisodium phosphate, and why don't meat labels have to say that it is in there?

I once asked Kroger about their fresh ground beef, and they said they put rosemary in it for color.

[Deb]

Martha, I'd be wary of Vietnamese farmed fish as well. I saw a program on farm-raised shrimp from the Phillipines. It was really disturbing. The polluted water that the shrimp was raised in was awful. I only buy U.S. seafood these days. I (very) occasionally will buy a bit of farmed catfish but I usually only buy wild gulf seafood (only more than a year after the BP spill) or Atlantic, as that's what's most available at the shop I go to.

[brandy]

I pay extra for wild caught seafood although once and while I'll get gulf (US) farm raised tilapia or farm raised catfish. I check countries of origin on all frozen and canned seafood and steer clear of anything from Asia. I find I have plenty of choices without having to purchase fish from Asia.

In taste alone there is a huge difference in shrimp flavor between wild caught and sustainable (farm raised.) I find the farm raised shrimp is mushy and kind of flavorless...i.e it really has no taste and does not taste like shrimp.

Brandy

[draperygoddess]

Martha,

The phosphate is an additive that's supposed to preserve moisture. Basically, there's a brine that they package meat, fish and poultry in, though the exact ingredients vary. Most of the time the packaging will say "up to ___% of broth to preserve". I don't know why this fish wasn't. I'm sure not everybody is sensitive to these additives, but apparently I am. I have started reading meat packaging much more carefully, ever since I discovered that the frozen chicken breasts I had been buying were injected with a solution that not only contained sodium phosphate, but could also contain gluten.

I do worry about farm-raised fish, as well as beef and poultry traditionally raised, but I just can't afford to buy organic, grass-fed, free-range products on a regular basis. For now, the "no additive" variety is the best I can do.

[MBombardier]

Martha, fish raised in Vietnam has a horrible reputation. I have seen a video where people were living on the same river (with all that means--no sanitation facilities, etc.) where the fish were being farmed.

MY DIL told me that "wild caught" is a lot like the "natural" or "cage-free" labels--it doesn't necessarily mean what you think. However, apparently Alaska requires that salmon labeled "wild caught Alaska salmon" really is.

You'd think that up here, where you can pull salmon right out of the river, that it would be less expensive, but it is still one of the most expensive.

[Lesley]

I eat US farm raised tilapia because it is easy on my stomach, tasty, and a good dose of light protein. I also eat rainbow trout because they are the only fatty fish I can eat. I love them, and eat them often.
Salmon is red on my MRT so I can't eat it. Someone told me that "wild caught" actually means hatchery hatched and freed into the wild for catching later, and that real wild salmon is labelled simply "wild".
Whatever - I wish I could eat it.