I'm considering exposing raw fish slices to a UV lamp to kill bacteria before making it into sushi. Would this help? Is there a practice of doing this? And what could be the drawbacks, if any?
UPDATE
Thank you very much for your answers. A couple of points to clarify. I am talking about:
- Using UV-C light wand
- Using it on freshly defrosted fish, that is in addition to freezing, not instead of it
- The goal is to further reduce risk of bacterial infection, not to completely sterilize the fish, as that wouldn't be possible
Furthermore, while digging on the Internet I found this:
For some types of food this [surface treatment] may well be sufficient, for example, muscle flesh from a healthy animal immediately after slaughter is, for all intents, sterile. Where contamination does occur, it will be as a result of contact with contaminated surfaces or fluids and this will initially manifest itself at the surface.
The efficacy of UV surface treatment will be strongly influenced by surface topography. Crevices, and similar features, of dimensions comparable to the size of microorganisms (i.e., a few microns) may shield microorganisms from potentially lethal UV rays and enable them to survive. This was cited in recent work as the reason why the UV treatment of fish fillets from a smooth-fleshed species was more effective than that of a rough-fleshed one.
This seems to imply that what I proposed had been tried and even proven somewhat effective.
I have not however found any mentions that UV exposure can cause changes in raw fish that would make it harmful to eat. In other words to make fish less safe than before. If anyone saw such effects being mentioned, please let me know (preferably without a pay wall).
Thank you again.
Best Answer
That is an interesting idea, but I would not recommend it.
It is true that UV light is able to kill microorganisms, and it has been used to treat water for quite some time now. It has also been used to treat some types of juices, and is even used in the food industry (factories). It is an alternative to pasteurization, since it provides an alternative way to killing harmful bacteria without altering the food taste.
However, the uses of UV light in solid foods (and even liquids) do require extensive study about the food properties. This means that, in order to effectively use UV light to kill bacteria in fish, one would have to seriously study how it interacts with the specific type of fish you plan on using.
I am not sure if such study for fishes exists. So, it is best to avoid using this technique, since it could potentially make people sick.
A good read about this topic is this academic paper, entitled "Review: Advantages and Limitations on Processing Foods by UV Light".