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Takeshi Yamasuge, a fugu restaurant owner near Tokyo, chuckled when asked about poisonless fugu. For many, the brush with death is part of the allure of the meal, and some diners go as far as indulging in the liver, though not until the poison has been soaked out. Its meat is firm and light when served raw as sashimi and succulent when cooked in a stew.īut some pufferfish fans are sure to balk. The fish could draw some diners who have long wanted to try fugu but feared the poison. Pufferfish, known as fugu in Japan, is sought after for its unique-tasting flesh, but eating it is risky because it also secretes a deadly toxin in almost all its other body parts. "When it comes to fugu, we can't afford any mistakes." Regional health officials said Tuesday a supermarket in Gamagori sold five packages of assorted blowfish meat on Monday. "The finding is a great scientific achievement, but it does not immediately mean we can guarantee food safety," said Masanori Imagawa, a Health Ministry official. The fugu's liver is mostly toxic and banned.

Some in the tourist industry are ready to promote the new fugu.Ī hot springs resort near Nagasaki is trying to obtain a government permit to allow hotels and restaurants to serve the liver, normally the most lethal part of the fish. The nonpoisonous pufferfish has not gone into mass production for sale, but it's already causing a stir. For two years, the group examined the fish each month, and they all tested negative for tetrodotoxin. They also raised their specimens in water at least 30 feet above the sea floor or in purified tanks to minimize their exposure to toxins.Īrakawa says it worked. He and his colleagues kept about 5,000 fugu on a strict diet of mackerel and other nonpoisonous food at seven locations along Japan's west coast from 2001 to 2003. Last year, five men in Japan were hospitalized after consuming fugu liver in a hot pot, and earlier this year, a. "We believed that pufferfish acquire poison by eating poisonous bait, such as starfish and shellfish, rather than producing it themselves," said Arakawa. Bans and taboos against fugu have been recorded since the 16th century in Japan. Researchers in Nagasaki, in southern Japan, are getting around the potentially deadly hurdle by examining the fish's diet. Three diners died in Japan in 2003 from pufferfish poisoning after preparing the fish at home, according to government figures. The powerful poison tetrodotoxin is found in the ovaries, liver, and intestines, and only specially licensed chefs are supposed to prepare the fish for human consumption. It's delicious."Įating pufferfish, known in Japanese as "fugu," is not always so carefree. "As sashimi, you dip it in a citrus-flavored soy sauce. "It's nice and soft," gushed Osamu Arakawa, a marine biologist heading the project at Nagasaki University. Now scientists have put a school of pufferfish on a special diet and come up with a version that tastes just like the real thing, without the lethal consequences. TOKYO - Blowfish has long been a delicacy for the adventurous: Every year in Japan, a few people die after eating it.