Food Standards Agency

Authority

Official guidance

Territories

GB-ENG, GB-WLS, GB-NIR

Primacy

primary

Commercial interest

none

Retrieved

2026-08-16

State

Read and citable

Original document

Retrieved for the seafood expansion, and it answers a question BBQHQ had been unable to answer in the British jurisdiction at all: how does the FSA say fish and shellfish are done? The answer is that it does not give a temperature for either. Fish flesh 'should turn opaque (no longer transparent) and separates easily with a fork'; prawns, scallops, crab and lobster 'should become firm and opaque'; and for clams, mussels and oysters 'the shells open during cooking - throw away any that don't open'. That is a regulator stating a VISUAL and MECHANICAL endpoint where BBQHQ's American sources state 145 °F, and the two are not conversions of each other. The same document carries the 70 °C for 2 minutes combination and its equivalents, which BBQHQ already held from another FSA page.

Safety, Culinary practice

• “fish flesh should turn opaque (no longer transparent) and separates easily with a fork”

  The Food Standards Agency states that cooked fish flesh turns opaque and separates easily with a fork, and gives no temperature for fish.

  How it was measured:

  A visual and textural test, not a thermometer reading. The same document gives 70 °C for 2 minutes as the general combination for food, and does not apply a figure to fish.

  Where it applies:

  England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

• “prawns, scallops, crab, and lobster flesh should become firm and opaque”

  The Food Standards Agency states that prawns, scallops, crab and lobster are cooked when the flesh becomes firm and opaque.

  How it was measured:

  A cue, not a temperature. No figure is given for any of the four.

  Where it applies:

  England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

• “when cooking clams, mussels, and oysters the shells open during cooking - throw away any that don't open”

  The Food Standards Agency states that clams, mussels and oysters open during cooking and that any which do not open should be discarded.

  How it was measured:

  A mechanical signal — the only one in the BBQHQ catalogue. The instruction covers the failures as well as the successes, which no other doneness statement BBQHQ holds does.

  Where it applies:

  England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

• In the UK, fish is cooked when the flesh has turned opaque and separates easily with a fork. The regulator gives no temperature for fish.
• In the UK, prawns, scallops, crab and lobster are cooked when the flesh has become firm and opaque.
• In the UK, clams, mussels and oysters open during cooking, and any that do not open should be thrown away.
• Shrimp, crabs, scallops, clams, mussels, oysters and lobster become tough and dry when overcooked, and their doneness is read from cues rather than a clock: shrimp turn pink and firm, scallops milky white or opaque and firm, and bivalves open.

If this source changes, these are the claims that need rechecking. That is the point of recording provenance per claim rather than per page.