How Can You Tell if Squid or Octopus Has Spoiled?

Fresh squid flesh is translucent and nearly white with a pinkish tint. As it starts to spoil, the color may shift first to purplish pink, then to a dull yellowish shade, and parts of the thin membrane over the flesh may peel away. Fresh octopus skin is glossy, ranges from dark brown to purple, and feels slightly slick to the touch. Spoiled octopus skin becomes dull and fades to a pale gray.

What do smell and touch tell you? Fresh squid and octopus have a mild ocean smell, at most iodine-like. A sharp ammonia or sour smell is described as the clearest sign of spoilage, and it generally does not go away with cooking. Fresh flesh should spring back when pressed with a finger. Spoiled squid or octopus may hold a fingerprint for a few seconds and feel spongy or unusually slippery. The eyes can also provide a clue in octopus: fresh octopus has full, bright eyes, while the eyes of octopus starting to spoil may look sunken and dull. Tentacles sticking together or suckers that feel looser than usual can also indicate loss of freshness.

What should you look for in frozen products? Excessive ice crystals inside the package or a dull, whitish layer on the flesh (freezer burn) may indicate that frozen squid or octopus has been stored for a long time or thawed and refrozen. The texture may become rubbery after cooking. A swollen package or strong odor when opened may indicate that the product thawed and sat for a while; do not eat it in this condition. Eating spoiled seafood can cause serious food poisoning; in certain fish such as tuna and mackerel, histamine that builds up during spoilage can cause facial flushing, headache, and nausea. Do not assume that cooking will fix a piece of squid or octopus with questionable color, smell, or texture; discard it.

How long can cooked squid or octopus be stored? Store cooked squid or octopus in a covered container in the refrigerator and eat it within 2–3 days. After that, the flesh may toughen and develop a sour smell. If cooked seafood has been at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour above 32°C / 90°F), throw it out, even if it looks normal; refrigerating it afterward does not make it safe. Store raw squid or octopus from the fish market on ice or on the coldest refrigerator shelf as soon as possible after buying it to reduce the time it spends waiting and help preserve freshness. If the trip home will take a while, such as more than an hour in hot weather, buy it as the last item on the shopping trip. A strong odor from different seafood displayed next to one another should not be considered normal; a fresh seafood counter should not have a dominant, unpleasant smell. When shopping, check whether squid and octopus are displayed on ice and kept out of direct sunlight; this can also give you an idea of the counter's overall hygiene.