Supermarket in Japan accidentally sells poisonous fish
Japanese authorities are on the hunt for a batch of deadly fish after toxic parts of the sea creature were accidentally put on sale.
A supermarket in the city of Gamagori sold five packages of fugu without removing the fish’s livers yesterday.
The breed of puffer fish is a delicacy in the country but can be fatal if incorrectly prepared.
The inclusion of the liver in the package could have contaminated the other meat with the fugu poison.
The illegal sales surfaced yesterday when a buyer of one package took it to a health center.
With four other packages sold but unaccounted for, city officials alerted residents via the emergency loudspeakers normally used for earthquakes and other disasters.
Two packages have since been returned.
The health ministry ordered the store to recall all the blowfish packages and suspend their sale, but the store told officials that it will no longer sell blowfish, Ohashi said.
Why is fugu deadly?
- Fugu is one of Japan’s most expensive winter delicacies and is often served in thin slices of sashimi or hot pot.
- But the fish’s skins, intestines, ovaries and livers contain a poison called tetrodotoxin that can be fatal.
- The part of the fish that contains the deadly poison differs from one kind of fugu to another.
- Japanese chefs are required to obtain a special permit to prepare the fish, but several people in Japan are killed each year by incorrectly prepared fugu, with dozens more suffering non-fatal side effects, according to the health ministry.
- “Eating a blowfish liver can paralyze motor nerves and in a serious case cause respiratory arrest leading to death,” regional officials said in a warning statement.
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