https://au.news.yahoo.com/detail-in-aldi-shoppers-photo-prompts-stark-warning-over-popular-supermarket-item-234129798.html


An Aussie Aldi customer who questioned why a prawn product sold at the supermarket comes with a warning that it's "not to be used as bait" likely didn't realise the seriousness of the issue at hand.

"Why not?" the woman asked, sharing a photo of the bait warning on a price tag for Aldi's Ocean Royale brand raw prawn cutlets to a Facebook group for Aldi lovers. "What will happen if I do?"

The shopper soon found out, like most imported prawn products sold in Australian supermarkets, Aldi's prawn cutlets could be carrying a highly contagious virus that could have devastating effects on our local aquaculture industry.


Ok .... 👆 came through as I was logging into my Yahoo email account. I’ve now posted it up on one of my Facebook groups.

Could I please ask those of you who fish/hunt etc for some advice on buying prawns/prawn products for the family?

Would I be right in concluding (despite any claims by this article) that it’s safer/safest NOT to buy prawns/prawn products from ANY supermarket - frozen or fresh??

Imported prawns are safe to eat. Just don't use them as bait. Diseases like white spot kill prawns. When you use them as bait, you can destroy the local prawn farms as well as wild stock. We recently went through a very expensive exercise of destroying prawn farm stock in an attempt to control an outbreak, that probably came from imported food prawns.

I think you are not even supposed to use Australian prawns for bait unless they are marked as such, in case you spread diseases within Australia.

freediver wrote on Jun 25^th, 2023 at 9:02am:

Imported prawns are safe to eat. Just don't use them as bait. Diseases like white spot kill prawns. When you use them as bait, you can destroy the local prawn farms as well as wild stock. We recently went through a very expensive exercise of destroying prawn farm stock in an attempt to control an outbreak, that probably came from imported food prawns. I think you are not even supposed to use Australian prawns for bait unless they are marked as such, in case you spread diseases within Australia.

Ahh right. Thank you FD.

Quick question: Would it be ok for me to paraphrase your post and let the mums in my Facebook group know?

We’re trying to figure out if/where we should be buying these products (and one mother has posted that as they’re bloody expensive products anyway the last thing you want to hear is that they’re also dangerous to eat).

Sure. You can copy and paste if you want. I expect the government website has a good explanation somewhere.

I was so close to going to buy some prawns the other day. Now, I think you have put me off buying them ever again. Atleast, the ones not from Rosslyn Bay markets.

Cockroaches of the ocean. Same as crays.
But they taste so damn good.
Mind you, I only eat seafood I catch.


We had a bad white spot problem in Brisbane a few years back.
Tonnes of prawns destroyed. Farms closed.
Mitigation under way to this day I believe.
New laws in place.

https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/activities/boating-fishing/rec-fishing/white-spot-disease-restrictions/white-spot-disease-fishing-restrictions

That must have been back in the days when we saw a price drop in prawns. Up here, though, we have large prawns disease free. And some of the oysters we get are twice the size of the Woolworths oysters -- and for the similar price.

UnSubRocky wrote on Jun 25^th, 2023 at 5:39pm:

That must have been back in the days when we saw a price drop in prawns. Up here, though, we have large prawns disease free. And some of the oysters we get are twice the size of the Woolworths oysters -- and for the similar price.

Yeah I guess.
5yrs ago.
Back in the day... Maybe.

It wrecked Brisbane prawns.
No one could sell them.

All good now, but they're taking no chances.

I might well have had it confused with the coronavirus impact on seafood sales.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-09/coronavirus-queensland-seafood-sales-easter-cheap/12129506

UnSubRocky wrote on Jun 25^th, 2023 at 4:25pm:

I was so close to going to buy some prawns the other day. Now, I think you have put me off buying them ever again. Atleast, the ones not from Rosslyn Bay markets.

Don’t worry Rocky...I myself will not be buying prawns either.

There’s other seafood (mainly snapper and flathead fillets) which the family likes.

Captain Caveman wrote on Jun 25^th, 2023 at 5:41pm:

UnSubRocky wrote on Jun 25th, 2023 at 5:39pm: That must have been back in the days when we saw a price drop in prawns. Up here, though, we have large prawns disease free. And some of the oysters we get are twice the size of the Woolworths oysters -- and for the similar price. Yeah I guess. 5yrs ago. Back in the day... Maybe. It wrecked Brisbane prawns. No one could sell them. All good now, but they're taking no chances.

AHHH THAT’S IT!!!! I remember now why I was so spooked by that article! Yes there was a serious issue wrt prawns a few years back! Then Covid19 hit.

I did find an article that said that prawn prices had dropped signficantly at the start of the year 2017, because of the white spot virus in Brisbane. I barely remember 6 years ago. But, I do remember cheap seafood for a while. Cheap, uninfected Rosslyn Bay sourced seafood, that being.

Captain Caveman wrote on Jun 25^th, 2023 at 5:31pm:

Cockroaches of the ocean. Same as crays. But they taste so damn good.

Exactly, they are the cockroaches of the rivers and oceans.

Having said that, I could eat them every day.

Love a good feed of jumbo prawns with fluffy white rice and creamy garlic sauce.

UnSubRocky wrote on Jun 26^th, 2023 at 11:24am:

I did find an article that said that prawn prices had dropped signficantly at the start of the year 2017, because of the white spot virus in Brisbane. I barely remember 6 years ago. But, I do remember cheap seafood for a while. Cheap, uninfected Rosslyn Bay sourced seafood, that being.

I'm pretty sure white spot pushed prices up. Covid made them go down.

In any event, I was swayed to buy half a kilo of banana prawns today. Best prawns I have had in a long time.

I once witnessed a corpse that had been just retrieved from the ocean which was covered with bottom feeders like prawns and crabs and have been reluctant to eat them since.