This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The work break room can be a place of rest, gossip, fun or recovery. But it can also be a cause for complaint when yesterday's fish dinner becomes a smelly microwaved lunch.
For most people, microwaving fish at work is a big no-no. It has even led to armed confrontations. But what is happening in the microwave?
Is there something specific to reheating fish in the microwave that makes it particularly smelly? One reason fish smells when you microwave it is because fish smells fundamentally fishy. Among the key chemicals that contribute to that characteristic smell is trimethylamine.
A precursor to this chemical, called trimethylamine oxide, is concentrated in fish flesh. It helps maintain the balance of minerals and chemicals inside fish in their water habitat. Trimethylamine oxide isn't that smelly itself, but bacteria can modify it into the extremely volatile and smelly trimethylamine (which has a boiling point of only 3–4°C).
Trimethylamine gas has a signature smell—fishy! It is also produced in the blossoms of some flowers. A beautiful-looking hawthorn bush can have a very unpleasant smell—somewhere between fish and urine.
The longer a piece of fish is kept after purchase, the more opportunity bacteria have to thrive and produce trimethylamine; in other words, fish is often strong-smelling even before it gets to the microwave. The smell of trimethylamine can be reduced by acids. The acid turns the volatile gas into a nonvolatile salt (volatile means able to spread into the air).
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