Fugu. Photo: selva, Flickr
Blowfish is being blamed for sickening seven diners in northern Japan Tuesday after an unlicensed chef served the poisonous fish -- fugu in Japanese -- at a restaurant in Tsuruoka city.
Three people remained hospitalized Wednesday after they experienced breathing trouble and developed limb paralysis from the sashimi and grilled blowfish testicles, the Associated Press reports.
Chefs must be licensed to prepare fugu as the fish contains tetrodotoxin, a poison 100 times more powerful than potassium cyanide, the AP said.
"It's scary," police official Yoshihito Iwase told the AP. "If you go to a decent-looking restaurant that serves fugu, you would assume a cook has a proper fugu license."
New York Chef Toshio Suzuki tells Slashfood that it takes eight years of training in Japan to become certified to serve the deadly fish. The training include a five-year apprenticeship under a licensed fugu chef and a written and hands-on exam.
"In earlier times, fugu were fished and distributed like every other fish, therefore the 'thrill' one may have would be to dine at a restaurant with a chef who is uncertified or fugu prepared at home," he said. "Today in Japan and in the United States, the distribution origin and methods are very strict, and must be properly inspected and cleared before it can be consumed."
Adventurous diners consider blowfish a thrilling delicacy. Chefs serve just the meat, the testicles, the skin and the fins, Suzuki said. Only about a dozen restaurants in the United States have chefs qualified to serve the fish, including Suzuki's restaurant, Sushi Zen.
All of the fugu served in the United States is processed in Japan and imported without the poisonous parts, Suzuki said.
According to AP reports, in 2007, three died and 44 others were poisoned after consuming poorly prepared blowfish.
