Poisonous Pufferfish Balls Found At Samut Sakhon Fish Factory

[fareastguy]

Quote:

(I think it's an international law that a resturant must have a license to serve puffer fish)

Not when your trying to disguise it as something else!!

Another clear case of Thai profit before health concerns....

Contamination, cross contamination, product miss-labeling, sell by dates, dodgy product you name it Thailand does it all..

God help anyone with an allergy.. it's bad enough if your immune system is perfect!!

Stay Away....You have been warned!!

[Lifer]

Such stupid, unnecessary comments on this posted news. Think the fishballs are bigger than the brains.

[Fozfromoz]

Puffer fish have balls? I didn't even know they had legs.

They dont have legs. Thats why you dont see them swimming near the sea bed, more of a mid level swimmer

[manarak]

(I think it's an international law

no such thing exists.

[shiatsuman]

This puffer fish poison fish ball thing has been around for years. Last story was about coppers finding a truck on its way to Bangkok markets loaded with two tons of puffer fish meat. No newspaper follow up was ever observed. Seconding other posts, stay away from fish balls - street or packaged.

The puffer fish flesh is cheap, so the Thais try to use it instead of other non lethal fish.

Puffer fish is one of the most expensive delicacies in Japan and is eaten raw.

parts of the fish like the liver and gall bladder are extremely toxic and many people have died from eating flesh that has become contaminated by these organs.

In Japan specially licensed chiefs prepare the fish and it is said that if a chief serves a client contaminated fish he is honour bound to commit hari kari with his fileting knife .

Maybe applying such standards to Thai fish processors may solve the problem of contamination

[pattayaorganic]

It makes one wonder if those 2 Canadian could have ingested a Puffer Fish Poison into their system possibly from the water supply the

used to catch the fist I presume they ate.

I wonder if an autopsy could detect that. Correct me if I am wrong, but did that initial finding say there was a lot of vomit in the room..

Well this is something I can comment on because I am, as far as I know the only caucasian to receive license from JPN government to be a fugu chef. First of all it is not an international law and in Japan is actually governed by each prefecture, not at the national level. There are even prefectures in Japan without fugu regulation.

There are also many myths surrounding fugu. You don't just curl up and die in 15 min. from ingesting tetrodotoxin the poison blocks the signal at the neuro-muscular junction which paralyses you and eventually prevents you from breathing. The death is actually from asphyxia. However, if you suspect you have eaten the toxin and you get to a hospital in time that is equipped with artificial respiration equipment, you can "weather the storm" and survive with high probability, if you catch it in time.

Vomiting is not the kind of reaction you get from tetrodotoxin poisoning as it would actually prevent you from vomiting, so my vote is against that theory.

[aaacorp]

...

From the webs Medical Dictionary...

The most common symptoms of fugu poisioning are tingling

and burning of the mouth and tongue, numbness, drowsiness,

and incoherent speech.

...

dam_n I think I know lot of thais and farangs who are poisoned daily

[MrKrabbe]

Nice to see the mainstream press is on this one.

If the fishballs are cooked properly doesnt this breakdown the posion ?....not saying what they have done is alright...want to know for my own interest

didn't know that fish had balls.

[Bagwan]

How big are pufferfish balls anyway? Need to know what to look for.

that fish can pump water into his balls so they appear bigger to impress the female fishes.

I can imagine the queues of sex tourists at hospitals tomorrow wanting that procedure carried out on them.

[RaoulDuke]

Funny how the punishment for improper labeling is more severe than that for serving up poisonous fish (although neither punishment could even really count as a deterrent to a large operation).

[tombkk]

It makes one wonder if those 2 Canadian could have ingested a Puffer Fish Poison into their system possibly from the water supply the

used to catch the fist I presume they ate.

I wonder if an autopsy could detect that. Correct me if I am wrong, but did that initial finding say there was a lot of vomit in the room..

Well this is something I can comment on because I am, as far as I know the only caucasian to receive license from JPN government to be a fugu chef. First of all it is not an international law and in Japan is actually governed by each prefecture, not at the national level. There are even prefectures in Japan without fugu regulation.

There are also many myths surrounding fugu. You don't just curl up and die in 15 min. from ingesting tetrodotoxin the poison blocks the signal at the neuro-muscular junction which paralyses you and eventually prevents you from breathing. The death is actually from asphyxia. However, if you suspect you have eaten the toxin and you get to a hospital in time that is equipped with artificial respiration equipment, you can "weather the storm" and survive with high probability, if you catch it in time.

Vomiting is not the kind of reaction you get from tetrodotoxin poisoning as it would actually prevent you from vomiting, so my vote is against that theory.

Thanks for your valuable contribution. Here in Thailand, we don't know much about the fish or its poison.

I did eat sashimi of fugu fish in Japan, and clearly, the meat was not poisonous. These fish balls must have been of the entire fish, or the poisonous organs not removed properly, what do you reckon?

[onthemoon]

What is the brand name of this factory?

I'd like to know that too. In the interest of public health and consumer protection, they should not withhold the name. A fine of THB 30,000 is ridiculous.

[onthemoon]

This puffer fish poison fish ball thing has been around for years. Last story was about coppers finding a truck on its way to Bangkok markets loaded with two tons of puffer fish meat. No newspaper follow up was ever observed. Seconding other posts, stay away from fish balls - street or packaged.

The puffer fish flesh is cheap, so the Thais try to use it instead of other non lethal fish.

Puffer fish is one of the most expensive delicacies in Japan and is eaten raw.

parts of the fish like the liver and gall bladder are extremely toxic and many people have died from eating flesh that has become contaminated by these organs.

In Japan specially licensed chiefs prepare the fish and it is said that if a chief serves a client contaminated fish he is honour bound to commit hari kari with his fileting knife .

Maybe applying such standards to Thai fish processors may solve the problem of contamination

Gee, at least they don't have to commit hara kiri.

[Petertimo]

"inspectors’ suspicions were aroused when they noticed some of the factory’s products hadn’t been labelled properly"

Have you ever seen some food products being properly labelled in Thailand? Try to find some products for which the food labels add up to a 100%, sporadically you'll find some products that note all the ingredients.

[moe666]

I guess the fishballs would kill you faster than the cows with mad cow disease that where made into hamburger, guess where the good old USA. If you value your life stay away or at least donot eat cheap hamburger, you have been warned

[BuckarooBanzai]

I guess the fishballs would kill you faster than the cows with mad cow disease that where made into hamburger, guess where the good old USA. If you value your life stay away or at least donot eat cheap hamburger, you have been warned

Think you are a little confused over your facts. Good old UK is what you should have said.

[cdnski12]

Seems some Thai processors slipped up. Puffer Fish is very expensive in Japan. Wonder if this what could be causing Ferang deaths one reads about in Thailand?

[nurofiend]

what's up with people eating fugu.

risk my life to taste a bit of fish? nah.

[theanimaster]

Can't disagree with this. In Japan it is called Fugu and can be had in Bangkok.

The intime or sushi chef MUST be licensed after a rigorous training course,

to have a regularly renewed license to prepare this.

Even so at least once a year someone drops dead in 10-15 minutes after eating some.

I can't imagine the fishball industry has better cleaning tolerances that the fastidious Sushi chefs in japan.

Just warned the wife to not buy fishballs for a month at least.

Worse yet is the long shelf life 'fish strings' that may get delivered

and sit in wait for the unsuspecting, and no one may recognize why the person dies from them...

So is this what Homer Simpson had?

[SunsetT]

Puffer fish have balls? I didn't even know they had legs.

They dont have legs. Thats why you dont see them swimming near the sea bed, more of a mid level swimmer

..........No, I've seen them...They bounce along the seabed using their balls like a Spacehopper!

[SunsetT]

How big are pufferfish balls anyway? Need to know what to look for.

that fish can pump water into his balls so they appear bigger to impress the female fishes.

....I can do that!

[SunsetT]

Nice to see the mainstream press is on this one.

If the fishballs are cooked properly doesnt this breakdown the posion ?....not saying what they have done is alright...want to know for my own interest

didn't know that fish had balls.

....Oh yes they do.....Check out the Journalist's name.....It's his area of specialization!

[Traxster]

All I can say is...................

Balls to the lot of Ya !!

[atyclb]

Perhaps the factory did not offer adequate bribe money to avoid being reported?

[grumpyoldman]

I wonder if this is what poisoned the Canadian sisters in Phi-Phi.........(?)

[Sayonarax]

Eat Beef

[Jimjim]

It boggles the mind that anyone would use poisonous fish meat because it's cheap, without warning any consumers and saying it's another fish meat. Life really has no value to some people, it's as if everyone is an ant which can easily be stepped on and killed in some people's mind.