08/19/2026
you’re processing salmon for sashimi at a sushi restaurant, the key is that “sashimi grade” is not simply a quality label—it needs to be handled under a food-safety process appropriate for raw consumption.
Typical sashimi salmon process
1. Buy from a reputable seafood supplier
* Specify salmon intended for raw consumption/sushi.
* Prefer supplier documentation showing the product’s harvest/farming method and parasite-control treatment.
* Farmed Atlantic salmon is commonly used for sushi; FDA Food Code has an exception to the parasite-freezing requirement for certain aquacultured salmon when the required conditions are met.
2. Receive cold
* Keep salmon properly refrigerated from receiving through preparation.
* Check the product temperature and packaging condition.
* Reject fish with an off odor, damaged packaging, excessive liquid, or evidence of temperature abuse.
3. Parasite control
* If freezing is required for the product, FDA Food Code specifies, for example:
* −4°F (−20°C) for 7 days, or
* −31°F (−35°C) until solid, then −31°F for 15 hours, or
* −31°F until solid, then −4°F for 24 hours.
* A normal restaurant freezer that only reaches around 0°F should not be assumed to meet the faster freezing options.
* Keep records of the freezing process when it is your parasite-control step. FDA’s seafood guidance specifically gives monitoring/recordkeeping examples for frozen salmon.
4. Thaw correctly
* Thaw under refrigeration, preferably in the original sealed packaging only when your procedure allows it.
* Keep the salmon cold and minimize the time it spends outside refrigeration.
5. Trim and portion
* Use a clean, sanitized cutting board and knife dedicated to ready-to-eat/raw fish when possible.
* Remove skin, dark meat, bloodline, pin bones and damaged portions.
* Avoid washing raw salmon in the sink because splashing can spread contamination.
6. Cut for sashimi
* Use a very sharp, sanitized knife.
* Cut across the muscle fibers into uniform pieces.
* Keep the finished portions refrigerated.
7. Storage
* Keep raw ready-to-eat salmon properly refrigerated and protected from cross-contamination.
* Store it separately from raw meats, dirty produce, and other contamination sources.
* Follow your local health department’s requirements and your restaurant’s HACCP/food-safety plan.
Important for your sushi restaurant
If you’re doing this commercially, I would not recommend creating your own “sashimi-grade” procedure based only on internet instructions. FDA guidance treats raw seafood as having multiple potential hazards—not just parasites—and seafood processors are expected to address reasonably likely hazards through HACCP controls.
