Japanese police raid restaurant serving potentially deadly tiger blowfish liver
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Version 0 of 1. A members-only Japanese restaurant serving tiger blowfish liver, a banned and potentially deadly delicacy, has been raided by police. Blowfish – also known as pufferfish or balloonfish – are named after their ability to expand into a roundish shape to ward off predators. Japanese gourmands adore the species for its savoury white meat, but parts of the liver and ovaries carry enough toxins to kill an adult human. Chefs in Japan must be licensed to prepare blowfish but are banned from offering particularly poisonous parts such as the liver – which some epicureans are still willing to eat despite the risk. In 1975, revered Kabuki actor Bandō Mitsugorō died after eating blowfish liver in Kyoto. The restaurant raided in Osaka belongs to a chain of four outlets and could not be reached for confirmation. New customers must be introduced by an existing member, according to the website. The raid was conducted on Monday, an Osaka police spokesman said, adding that no health problems had been reported at the restaurant. But local food safety authorities say they have indefinitely banned the chain from serving blowfish. The poisonous substance in the fish, tetrodotoxin, causes dozens of people to fall ill every year, a few fatally, according to the Japanese health, labour and welfare ministry. Police said the restaurant served farmed blowfish, which some studies by Japanese marine researchers say does not accumulate poison in the body, but the legal restriction on serving up the potentially poisonous parts remains. |