Non-lethal blowfish meals on the way

TOKYO- Blowfish has long been a delicacy only for the adventurous: every year in Japan, a few people are poisoned to death eating it.

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. “It’s nice and soft,” gushed Osamu Arakawa, a marine biologist heading the project at Nagasaki University.”As sashimi, you dip it in a citrus-flavored soy sauce – it’s delicious.”Eating pufferfish – known in Japanese as “fugu” – is not always so carefree.The powerful poison tetrodotoxin is found in the ovaries, liver and intestines, and only specially licensed chefs are qualified to prepare the fish for human consumption.Still, fugu remains a final meal for some.Three diners died in Japan in 2003 from pufferfish poisoning after preparing the dish at home, according to government figures.Researchers in Nagasaki, in southern Japan, are getting over that potentially deadly hurdle by examining the fish’s diet.”We believe that pufferfish acquire poison by eating poisonous food, such as starfish and shellfish, rather than producing it themselves.So we fed them non-poisonous food,” Arakawa said.He and his colleagues kept about 5 000 fugu on a strict regime of mackerel and other non-poisonous food at seven locations along Japan’s west coast from 2001 to 2003.Takeshi Yamasuge, a fugu restaurant owner near Tokyo, chuckled when asked about poison-less fugu.He said his customers prefer the real thing, despite hefty prices that go as high as 25 000 yen (US$230) per kilogram.”Nontoxic fugu is boring,” he declared.”Fugu is exciting because it’s toxic.”- Nampa-AP”It’s nice and soft,” gushed Osamu Arakawa, a marine biologist heading the project at Nagasaki University.”As sashimi, you dip it in a citrus-flavored soy sauce – it’s delicious.”Eating pufferfish – known in Japanese as “fugu” – is not always so carefree.The powerful poison tetrodotoxin is found in the ovaries, liver and intestines, and only specially licensed chefs are qualified to prepare the fish for human consumption.Still, fugu remains a final meal for some.Three diners died in Japan in 2003 from pufferfish poisoning after preparing the dish at home, according to government figures.Researchers in Nagasaki, in southern Japan, are getting over that potentially deadly hurdle by examining the fish’s diet.”We believe that pufferfish acquire poison by eating poisonous food, such as starfish and shellfish, rather than producing it themselves.So we fed them non-poisonous food,” Arakawa said.He and his colleagues kept about 5 000 fugu on a strict regime of mackerel and other non-poisonous food at seven locations along Japan’s west coast from 2001 to 2003.Takeshi Yamasuge, a fugu restaurant owner near Tokyo, chuckled when asked about poison-less fugu.He said his customers prefer the real thing, despite hefty prices that go as high as 25 000 yen (US$230) per kilogram.”Nontoxic fugu is boring,” he declared.”Fugu is exciting because it’s toxic.”- Nampa-AP