Fish – Can store bought salmon be used for sashimi

I discussed a similar subject in this question: What exactly is "Sushi Grade" fish?

Raw fish isn't safe to eat if it's just been sitting around. However, the raw fish used in sushi/sashimi has been frozen (typically flash-frozen) in order to kill any parasites, making it as safe as any other food.

Most distributors of sashimi also have their own methods and internal regulations to ensure food safety, but specifics are understandably hard to come by. Suffice it to say, it's far safer to eat properly-prepared nigiri or sashimi than it is to eat an undercooked hamburger.

With fish, you have two safety concerns: parasites and bacteria.

Freezing gets rid of parasites. It does not kill bacteria. You need heat to kill bacteria, that's why officially, food is only considered safe after being cooked to a specific temperature. Eating thawed uncooked fish is officially unsafe, and if you tried to sell it to people, the FDA would come after you.

This being said, if your personal safety standards are not as high as the FDA's (which are extremely conservative), nobody will stop you from eating it. It shouldn't be more dangerous than sushi, as long as you eat it immediately after thawing. There is the small probability of it being kept around some time before freezing (as opposed to sushi-intended fish which should be frozen on the boat immediately), but as fish deteriorates really quickly after death, you should be able to notice it smelling fishy if this is the case.