Sushi

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Sushi consists of cold, cooked rice acidified with vinegar that is shaped into bite-sized pieces and topped with raw or cooked fish. They are also sometimes formed into rolls with fish, egg, meat or vegetables, and wrapped in seaweed (nori). Other names and products include nigiri, nigirizushi, nori rolls, maki, makizushi, inari and inarizushi.

Store-bought sushi should be eaten immediately after purchase and is not recommended for people with low or compromised immune stems, including pregnant women.

What’s the risk?

Food safety concerns unique to the preparation and sale of sushi include:

  • many businesses sell and display sushi at room temperature to preserve its flavour and texture
  • it often contains perishable ingredients
  • its preparation involves significant manual handling.

In NSW, retail sushi businesses are only allowed to display sushi at temperatures of up to 25°C if they follow certain strict conditions. These conditions include:

  • careful preparation of sushi and its ingredients
  • rice must be properly acidified to inhibit the growth of food poisoning bacteria
  • it can only be displayed out of refrigeration for up to 4 hours and the business must have a system to track this.

Home-made sushi

Vinegar added to rice in traditional sushi recipes helps stop the growth of microorganisms that can cause food poisoning.

It's important though that:

  • sushi rice is kept in the fridge until use
  • if raw fish is used in the sushi, it needs to be very fresh and of the highest quality, such as sashimi grade tuna. It also needs to be kept in the fridge
  • a very high standard of personal and kitchen hygiene is maintained, especially as preparing sushi involves a lot of handling of the food
  • sushi is eaten within 2 hours of being taken out of the fridge.

The Food Authority recommends following good cleaning and hygiene practices and the 2-hour/4-hour rule - that is, if sushi has been left out of the fridge for:

  • less than 2 hours – either eat it now or put it back in the fridge for later
  • between 2 and 4 hours – either eat it now or throw it out
  • more than 4 hours – throw it out, as bacteria may have grown to unsafe levels.

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