The Only Place In Your Refrigerator You Should Be Storing Raw Fish

Sometimes when you get home from the grocery store and have one too many things to do, it can be tempting to just blindly place items in your refrigerator wherever they fit. But if you're not careful or do not have a dedicated place for some items, you might be paying for it later. That's why there is only one place in your fridge where you should really be storing foods like raw meat and especially raw fish (via Food Network).

According to Consumer Reports, one of the dangers of storing raw fish anywhere but the bottom of the fridge is that it could contaminate other foods. If you've ever had any kind of protein packaging leak in your fridge and had to clean up the liquid that was left behind, then you probably already understand how contamination can happen. It's easy for the liquid from raw fish to leak and trickle down the fridge and onto other kinds of foods like produce or pre-cooked items.

Apart from potential contamination of other foods, there's another reason you should keep raw fish stored at the bottom of your fridge. If you don't properly store uncooked fish where it will be kept cold enough, it could spoil more quickly (via I Really Like Food). While cold air naturally sinks toward the bottom of the fridge while warmer air circulates to the top, you can take some added precautions to ensure the fish stays cold enough.

Southern Living spoke to Meredith Abbot, the manager of culinary content at Sur La Table, to find out what else you can do to ensure your raw fish stays as cold as possible at the bottom of your fridge. According to Abbot, that includes using additional cooling materials like ice packs or bags of ice. In fact, you can place the ice and raw fish in something like a small cooler or freezer bag that is then stored in the bottom of your fridge.

These extra precautions will ensure your fish is as fresh as it can be, while also protecting the other foods in your fridge.