Cooked Puffer Fish Can Kill, Warn Health Officials

[george]

Cooked puffer fish can kill, warn health officials

BANGKOK: -- The Public Health Ministry has issued a warning against eating puffer fish after the death of a man in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen.

The man and his family fell ill after eating puffer fish caught from a pond. The man convulsed and developed breathing difficulties, while his relatives began vomiting.

He was taken to hospital on Monday night, but died the next day. His family survived.

Deputy Public Health Minister Anutin Charnveerakul said all species of puffer fish, whether salt water or fresh, contained the poison tetrodotoxin, and cooking could not remove it.

Puffer fish was a delicacy in Japan, Mr. Anutin said, but could only be prepared by licensed, specially-trained chefs.

Other people should not attempt to cook and eat the toxic fish by themselves, he said.

Dr. Pakdi Phothisiri, director-general of the Health Services Department, said the Food and Drug Administration had already investigated the Khon Kaen fatality.

Under Public Health Ministry regulations, the production, selling, export, and import of puffer fish and puffer fish products was banned.

Offenders could face up to two years in prison and a 20,000 baht fine.

Dr. Pakdi also appealed to open-air barbeque restaurants -- popular in Bangkok and provinces -- not to offer puffer fish for the safety of consumers.

--TNA 2006-02-09

[Steely Dan]

I wonder how they train the chefs who know how to cook it? Seems like a lot of bother to me.

[Jai Dee]

People are warned against ordering puffer fish at restaurants after officials found 100 kilograms of the fish being sold by vendors in Bangkok

The Ministry of Public Health is warning people against restaurants that use puffer fish to make food, after it arrested merchants who were selling as many as 100 kilograms of puffer fish, or commonly known as "Pla nua kai" (ปลาเนื้อไก่) in Thai.

Deputy Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (อนุทิน ชาญวีรกุล) and Food and Drug Administration Secretary-General Pakdee Photisiri (ภักดี โพธิศิริ) inspected fish stalls at Thanamnond (ท่าน้ำนนท์) Market and found three vendors that sold puffer fish. Around 100 kilograms of puffer fish were found and have been confiscated. The merchants face fines of 5,000 to 20,000 baht and imprisonment of six months to two years, but if they provide cooperation with authorities in locating the distributor, then they will not be prosecuted.

Mr. Anutin said that people should avoid eating puffer fish as cooking would not make them less poisonous. Restaurants alternatively use the term "Pla nua kai" (ปลาเนื้อไก่) or "chicken-meat fish" to describe the puffer fish, and thus such menu should not be ordered. Consumption of puffer fish many have more lethal consequences than numbness of the lips, tongue, face and fingertips. In some cases, it can cause paralysis of the muscles and can even result in death.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 10 Febuary 2006

[p_brownstone]

Interesting; until I read this - and looked it up on the Net afterwards - I assumed Puffer fish lived only in salt water but apparently there are species which live in fresh and brackish waters too.

Not a great risk in Thailand I guess, but worth knowing.

Patrick