How to Tell If Shrimp Cocktail Is Bad

Make sure your shrimp is fresh before serving.

With more than 300 species of shrimp, seafood aficionados have many choices when it comes to enjoying shrimp. Shrimp is a popular food for frying, grilling, skewering on kabobs and eating cold in cocktail dipping sauce. It is commonly served as an entree alone, mixed with pasta or in stir-fry dishes, or as an appetizer, such as with shrimp cocktail. When shrimp is bad, you'll know it right away so perform a few quick sensory tests before you serve it at your next dinner party to make sure your shrimp cocktail is pleasing, as opposed to putrid.

Things You'll Need

• Shrimp
• Shrimp packaging

Instructions

1. Remove your shrimp from the refrigerator. Rinse off any cocktail sauce under cold water if you have already dipped the shrimp in sauce and need to check their freshness.

2. Place the rinsed shrimp 1 inch from your nose and sniff. Detect whether there is a fishy or ammonia scent to the shrimp as fresh shrimp emit either no smell or only a slight salty, seawater scent.

3. Look at the color of the skin on the shrimp; discern whether it is translucent, has any black spots or rings, or is pink in color, which indicate spoiling (except for tiger shrimp which have gray coloration with black rings).

4. Look at the expiration or sell by date on the original shrimp packaging. Discard shrimp you purchased fresh after 24 hours; do not eat or serve shrimp which you purchased as thawed-but-previously-frozen after three days. Discard frozen shrimp after three weeks in the freezer.

5. Feel the shrimp to determine freshness. Poke the shrimp with your index finger as fresh shrimp is firm while unsatisfactory shrimp has a softened or mushy texture.

References

• What's Cooking America: All About Shrimp
• The World's Healthiest Foods: Shrimp -- How to Select and Store