In recent years, the importance of tilapia safety has buoyed itself toward the surface for businesses that deal in the mild-tasting whitefish. Simply put, what has triggered this rise is out of necessity. Tilapia fish is now is the eighth-most consumed seafood in the United States. Therefore, anything but total compliance with tilapia safety precautions can be costly for anyone that imports, distributes, sells, or raises tilapia for public consumption.

At the heart of tilapia’s popularity is a perfect confluence of diet trends, flavor and cost. Tilapia is cheap to raise. Nearly three-quarters of the 2.3 million metric tons of tilapia harvested for consumption every year is farm-raised. Because most of those tilapia farms are located in Latin America, Egypt, and Southeast Asia, buyers should tread lightly. It’s difficult to say what, if any, tilapia aquaculture practices farms in those countries follow. When buying tilapia to sell or distribute for public consumption here in the United States, consider the following:

1. Buy tilapia from trusted sources and know where it's coming from.

2. Avoid buying frozen tilapia if possible.

3. Learn tilapia safety through classes/training.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Buy locally to avoid the unknown variables with tilapia farm-raised outside the United States

These words have never been more true when it comes tilapia safety. Your best bet is choosing from tilapia fisheries right here in the USA. Although the United States maintains thorough inspection procedures on food imported into the country, it's best to choose home-grown tilapia when available. It's difficult to say what rules other countries follow, if any.

I recommend: Monterey Bay Aquarium located in Monterey, California has a Seafood Watch Fact Sheet in their website. It lists recommendations on the best countries to obtain the safest tilapia, as well as a large variety of other seafood. A good place to find a lot of companies that deal in tilapia is Gulf Business. On its website, you can find a lot of information about buyers, exporters and distributors of tilapia.

Choose fresh tilapia over frozen, if possible

Ideally, tilapia should be moist and resilient--two qualities difficult to determine when examining tilapia in the store. When thawed, frozen tilapia may occasionally appear mushy or give off a musky odor. If this happens, throw it away immediately. Also, stay away from tilapia that's not frozen individually, or appears to have dark or white spots. These are signs of poor quality.

I recommend: Leslie Beck, a registered dietician, has a variety of information on her website about tilapia nutrition, buying tilapia, storing tilapia, cooking tilapia and even tilapia recipes. Always Fresh Fish is another website where you can find some baked tilapia recipes but its main objective is delivering the highest quality fresh seafood right to your door.

Get trained--tilapia safety and seafood education opportunities are readily available

When it comes to the harvesting of food, the transportation of that food over vast distances, the storage of it and finally preparation--all businesses involved need to have proper safety measures established.

I recommend: Food Safety.gov has a special section on their website devoted specifically to seafood. Here you can find links to other government websites, such as the FDA, regarding proper seafood handling procedures. Trade-Seafood Industry Directory is a good resource for locating companies that provide training services in seafood handling.

Tilapia is one of the most commonly farmed fish in the world. Many restaurants use Tilapia as the main ingredient in fried fish patties and other seafood dishes. Baked Tilapia is the most common way to eat fresh Tilapia.

In order to meet the needs of any customer who wants to enjoy Tilapia, you should sell a variety of different styles of Tilapia. Keep these suggestions in mind when you order Tilapia for your store:

1. Make it easy for customers to cook Tilapia by offering Tilapia fillets.

2. Meet the needs of customers who want to purchase Tilapia in bulk with packages of frozen Tilapia.

3. Appeal to customers who like the taste of fresh Tilapia.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Sell Tilapia fillets

Some customers may not want to have to clean Tilapia before they cook it. In order to serve these customers, you will need to keep Tilapia fillets in stock. Consider offering whole Tilapia fillets and steak style Tilapia fillets to appeal to any customer.

I recommend: Charleston Seafood offers Tilapia fillets from Tilapia fisheries in two-pound increments. This company offers Tilapia recipes and general tips and suggestions for cooking Tilapia. AlwaysFreshFish.com sells Tilapia fillets by the pound from Tilapia aquaculture farms. This company has recipes for Tilapia, including baked Tilapia recipes. You can get wholesale prices on large orders by calling the company.

Keep frozen Tilapia in stock

Frozen Tilapia is a good option for customers who want to buy Tilapia in bulk and take their time preparing it. You should consider offering frozen Tilapia in one, five and ten pound bags or boxes to make it easy for your customers to buy the amount of Tilapia that fits their needs.

I recommend: ALseafood.com is a fishery. It offers frozen Tilapia fillets in a 10-pound box. FoodServiceDirect.com has bags of frozen Tilapia for sale at wholesale prices for orders meeting minimum quantity requirements. All of the Tilapia are American Pride products and offer a taste guarantee.

Offer fresh Tilapia

Some customers may want to enjoy fresh fried or baked Tilapia. Even if you don't live near a Tilapia fishery, it is still possible to sell your customers fresh Tilapia. Many Tilapia fisheries will process, pack and ship the Tilapia within hours of catching it.

I recommend: The Fresh Lobster Company sells fresh Tilapia from New England Tilapia farms. This company sells Tilapia by the pound and wholesale prices are available on large orders. Kosher.com sells fresh Tilapia fillets that are certified to be kosher. This company monitors every aspect of the Tilapia farming process.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Sell lemons, tartar sauce and other condiments that are common for Tilapia in your area.

Tilapia is a mild flavored fish that can be fried, sautéed, baked or poached. As people get more health conscious, this fish is gaining popularity. This means that seafood providers and restaurants have to adjust their inventory amounts of the fish they keep on hand. This means adjusting the budget, which, in some cases, is no small feat.

Some tilapia pricing and costs associated with purchasing the fish depend upon the time of year you need it. For example, prices rise slightly around holidays. Packing the fish may cost more during hot summer months due to extreme temperature extremes. Consider the following pricing and cost guidelines when planning your budget for purchasing tilapia:

1. Get fresh farm raised tilapia to avoid price fluctuations.

2. Buy fresh wild caught tilapia if you need the fish to have a slightly bolder flavor than farm raised.

3. Consider frozen tilapia if you can use a mix of farm raised and wild caught fish or if you need to purchase ahead in large quantities.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Buy fresh farm raised tilapia

Farm raised tilapia usually fluctuates less in price than wild caught tilapia. This is partially because tilapia aquaculture farmers can plan breedings to ensure a continuous supply of the fish. Tilapia suppliers that sell fresh farm raised tilapia usually purchase it from farmers in their area and ship it chilled.

I recommend: Charleston Seafood sells fresh tilapia for around $12 per pound. All of the tilapia sold by this company is farm raised by tilapia aquaculture farms in the Charleston area. This company also offers many complimentary items to use in popular tilapia recipes. Always Fresh Fish offers tilapia from tilapia farms for around $9 per pound. You must meet a minimum order requirement to order from this company. This website offers a preferred tilapia recipe on its website, along with information about tilapia.

Purchase wild caught tilapia

Wild caught tilapia is available year round. There isn't a tilapia season. However, because of natural fluctuations in the number of tilapia fisheries catch throughout the year, there is a noticeable increase in price, generally during November and December. Averaging out the cost of wild caught tilapia throughout the year can help you price your tilapia appropriately without having to raise the price during those months when the price is higher.

I recommend: Fresh Lobster Company sells wild caught tilapia caught by tilapia fisheries in the Gloucester, Maine area. This company generally ships the fish the same day the tilapia fishery catches it. Prices start at around $15 per pound. Kosher.com sells only foods that are considered kosher. The tilapia is sold in two pound boxes for under $30 per box. This company also sells many other items that can compliment all tilapia recipes, including baked tilapia recipes.

Order frozen tilapia

Frozen tilapia is usually a mixture of farm raised and wild caught fish. This is because the packing company purchases the most inexpensive type at the time of packaging. However, this mixture works well if you are preparing tilapia in batches because each type of fish tastes slightly different. When they are packaged together, the flavors usually even each other out to produce a more flavorful fillet.

I recommend: Authentic Louisiana Seafood sells frozen tilapia fish in 10 pound boxes. Each box sells for around $45. This website requires you to email or call them to place an order. You can find frozen tilapia packaged for food service use at FoodServiceDirect.com. Each case is just under 11 pounds. The price per case starts at under $60 for smaller fillets and goes higher for larger fillets.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Regardless of where you order tilapia from, you must ensure that the company you order from, as well as the delivery company, follow safe seafood handling practices. Chilled fish should remain under 40 degrees Fahrenheit and frozen should remain under 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tilapia key terms provide plenty of information about a fish with many unique qualities. Nutritionists often advise the public to eat fish because many are a great source of important vitamins and minerals. The experts also note that fish rarely has the fat content of a juicy steak or a tasty cheeseburger.

Tilapia is different from the most prominent fish recommendations of experts on nutrition. Doctors, dieticians and other medical professionals often mention salmon and tuna as valuable sources of important nutritional elements. Tilapia is a general name for a wide variety of different fish of the same species in scientific terms.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

St. Peter's fish

The Bible contains a story of the loaves and the fishes, and some believe that tilapia which inhabits the Sea of Galilee was the type of fish used in this parable. In another Biblical story, St. Peter caught a fish with a shekel in its mouth that the fisherman could use to pay taxes. Many people now refer to tilapia as St. Peter's fish because of these two stories.

I recommend: A newspaper from the Florida Keys, Keys News, has information on the nickname of the popular fish tilapia.

Aquaculture

Scientists constantly find new ways to produce food under controlled conditions, and tilapia are an important component in some of these endeavors. An aquaculture is a managed environment that scientists design with carefully chosen plants and fish for optimum harvests of food for human consumption. Tilapia is ideal for these efforts because many people love these fish for a nutritious meal, and these tasty fish have good qualities that make them thrive in an aquaculture environment.

I recommend: The MorningStar Fishermen has information on aquaculture and tilapia.

Aquaponics

Experts use aquaponics to maintain a perfect environment for the organisms present in the system. In other words, the scientists choose and control the plants, fish, micro organisms and other elements to raise the fish and cultivate the plants for harvesting. Aquaponic farmers design the system so the waste from the fish provides the nutrients for the plants, and the plants act to make the water perfect for the fish.

I recommend: Organic Aquaponics details the use of tilapia in aquaponic projects.

Artisanal fisheries

Tilapia is a type of fish that has had a significant role in artisanal fisheries. Artisanal fisheries are commercial ventures that are usually located in coastal waters to raise fish for food. The fishermen who take fish from artisanal fisheries use traditional methods such as a rod and reel, and they usually provide a better price for their local customers.

I recommend: Copemed Project has extensive information on all aspects of artisanal fisheries.

Chichild fish

Tilapia come from a family of fish known as chichild fish which includes more than a thousand species of fish. The other fish of the species like tilapia are favorites for food while some are the most beautiful aquarium fish including angelfish and oscars. Some of the distinctive characteristics of this fish family include an unusual jaw and tooth structure.

I recommend: Chichild Lovers has details about many of the fish in this family of fish.

Invasive species

Tilapia fish are an invasive species in some environments where they do not naturally belong and harm the other organisms in that location. Human beings are usually the culprits when a fish is an invasive species and this is the case with tilapia in certain locations. Although tilapia are native to parts of Africa and the Levant, people have deliberately or accidentally placed these fish in environments where they thrive to the detriment of other organisms.

I recommend: The Aquatic Community has details of invasive species.