![]() The fish's most famous victim, nationally revered Kabuki actor Bando Mitsugoro VIII, boasted to friends he had developed a tolerance for the poison, while dining on fugu liver in a restaurant in Kyoto in 1975. In the US, only properly prepared pufferfish can be imported from Japan, with other importations prohibited.Īnd that's probably a good idea, since the unwavering belief in the safe edibility of pufferfish has brought many a seafood-eater down. Nonetheless, all pufferfish livers are banned from sale in Japan. There are at least 191 species, and the level of toxicity varies. Even eating liver that producers insist is safe is like playing Russian roulette.That nobody became ill (or worse) helps explain the staff member's conviction that not all pufferfish livers are deadly. “Some people say that the liver is the most delicious part, but I’ve never tried it and there’s no way I would serve it in my restaurant. “How can you be absolutely sure that it’s OK to eat?” he says. The idea of serving the liver – even from supposedly safe fish – horrifies Fumiaki Shimoda, a senior member of the Tokyo fugu cuisine association, who has prepared hundreds of the fish since gaining his license more than a decade ago. In one case, police in Osaka arrested eight people, including a restaurant manager, on suspicion of serving the liver of the torafugu – the most prized member of the fugu family – as sashimi. The latest demand for change to the law, which officials believe will draw tourists to Saga, comes after several people were arrested for serving the liver in restaurants. Perhaps the most famous victim was the Kabuki actor and national living treasure Bando Mitsugoro VIII, who in 1975 died just over four hours after eating four servings of fugu liver, having convinced the chef that he had developed a natural resistance to the toxin’s crippling effects. ![]() ![]() Fugu is said to be the only fish Japan’s emperor is not allowed to eat. The 16th-century feudal warlord Hideyoshi Toyotomi banned blowfish consumption among his soldiers, and similar nationwide bans stayed in place through the Edo period (1603-1868). ![]() In the hands of a specially licensed chef, fugu poses little risk to diners, who pay anything from 5,000 yen to 35,000 yen (£260) a head for a multiple-course meal that typically includes sashimi, a chirinabe hotpot, deep-fried karaage, rice porridge and hot saké served with a grilled fugu fin.Įating fugu served by an unlicensed chef, however, can be fatal: between 20, 10 people died after eating the fish, most of whom had attempted to prepare it themselves. The frisson of danger that accompanies eating fugu has secured it a special status among diners and chefs, who must train for at least three years before attempting to qualify for a license. A panel of experts from Japan’s food safety commission is to rule on the safety of Saga’s farmed fugu by the end of the year. The liver lobby, led by the prefecture’s governor, Yoshinori Yamaguchi, is not giving up. “I would never serve the liver or other poisonous parts, no matter how many reassurances I’d been given,” says Takahashi, who will return next week to take the official test. One of the biggest fears is that wild and poisonous fugu will find their way into cordoned off breeding pens and mix with their non-toxic counterparts. “There is no absolute guarantee of safety.” “If the prefecture’s proposal is approved, many consumers will mistakenly believe that puffer fish liver is safe to eat, resulting in more accidents,” Yuichi Makita, vice-chairman of the restaurant association, told the Asahi Shimbun. Rearing the fish on food that is toxin-free removes the risk, or so the theory goes.īut owners of hundreds of fugu restaurants in Saga have warned that relaxing the law could end up killing diners. The poison in the fugu is produced when the fish feed on poisonous starfish, snails and other creatures. If digested, the neurotoxin causes numbness around the mouth, followed by paralysis and death by asphyxiation. With help from a local fisheries firm and university researchers, the officials claim they have perfected a method of farming the fish that ensures the liver contains not a single trace of tetrodotoxin. “If any poison finds its way on to the edible parts, it would be disastrous.”ĭespite the risks, officials in Saga prefecture, western Japan, are calling for an end to the decades-old ban on serving the liver – considered by some to be the tastiest part of the fish – in restaurants. “The hardest part is ensuring the parts that can be eaten are absolutely clean,” says Takahashi, one of dozens of chefs being put through their paces at a culinary school in Tokyo in preparation for a test to obtain their fugu licence.
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