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I'm from Poland (in case there is no such thing in other countries) and a few days ago I bought a quark cheese mixed with salmon and some herbs, produced by some German milk factory for one of local big malls network.

When I looked at factory-printed "best before" information, I was shocked. Though actual "best before" date was fine (still a few days left), there was a clearly printed notice that fishing period for salmon fish used for preparation of this quark was in... June-August, 2012.

If this isn't a printer mistake (and there should be a June-August 2014), then what? Can we really safely store (deep freeze?) fish for two or more years? Is it still usable for food preparation processes? And -- finally -- what is the reason for doing so? Wouldn't it be easier and better just to use... a fresh fish?

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Yes, if it was still OK when it went into the freezer, and has been frozen the whole time, it is still safe. That's true of all foods - if kept frozen, food will remain safe indefinitely. Quality of taste, appearance and texture are likely to have taken hits in that period of time, however.

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    Absolutely true, especially for processed foods. Fresh salmon will deteriorate far worse in the freezer then processed salmon as the enzymes (correct me if I'm wrong) are denaturalized by the heat treatment.
    – BaffledCook
    Commented Oct 5, 2014 at 19:35
  • "That's true of all foods" -- isn't 100% certain? I've heard, that a lot of food can be stored only until "best before" date, even deeply freezed.
    – trejder
    Commented Oct 20, 2014 at 9:00
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    @trejder, The food can get downright unpleasant in the freezer, but as long as it stays frozen (<0F), it will remain safe indefinitely. For Example See last line on the page, they all say that. That site relies on USDA info.
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Commented Oct 20, 2014 at 9:06

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