{"id":4492,"date":"2009-11-30T07:07:48","date_gmt":"2009-11-30T15:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blitransfer.wpengine.com\/?p=4492"},"modified":"2017-06-21T14:22:17","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T19:22:17","slug":"50000-non-toxic-puffer-fish-raised-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/2009\/11\/30\/50000-non-toxic-puffer-fish-raised-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"50,000 Non-Toxic Puffer Fish Raised in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Considered a delicacy by many, puffer fish are the second most deadly vertebrate<\/a> in the world.\u00a0 In fact, in order to prepare fugu<\/a>, Japanese chefs must obtain a special license after three years of apprenticeship.\u00a0 Only 30% of chefs<\/a> actually pass the test and become fugu licensed.\u00a0 The dangers of preparing and eating blowfish may be no longer, thanks to a Japanese aquaculture company that has raised 50,000 non-toxic fugu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photo by nimbu<\/a>\"50,000<\/a>
50,000 non-toxic blowfish raised by Japanese aquaculture company<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eating puffer fish sushi or sashimi can be dangerous if not properly prepared. DIY Sushi Recipes<\/a> explains:<\/p>\n

The blowfish, or \u201cfugu\u201d as it is known in Japanese contains a nasty poison called tetrodotoxin.\u00a0 An amount the size of a pin head is enough to kill one person and the fish itself contains enough poision to kill 30 people!<\/p>\n

So what happens if you eat ill-prepared blowfish sushi?\u00a0 The poison will paralyze your muscles while you remain fully conscious. Death by suffocation occurs within a few hours.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eating puffer fish is so dangerous that it is banned in the European Union, and every year deaths occur from eating fugu<\/a>.\u00a0 Surprisingly, there is a high demand for blowfish, and it is currently being overfished.\u00a0 Aquaculture companies have developed a solution in a safer, farm raised variety of blowfish.\u00a0 Despite the safety of a non-poisonous variety, fugu chefs are not happy with the new variety.\u00a0 The Telegraph<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n

But many fugu chefs – who are traditionally bound to commit ritual suicide with their own fish knife should one of their customers expire after eating one of their meals – said they preferred to take their chances with the potentially deadly wild varieties.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very tasty fish, but that’s not the only reason people choose to go to a fugu restaurant,” said Shinichi Ueshima, the chef at the Dote fugu restaurant in Yokohama.\u00a0 “It’s obviously more than a little exciting to go to a restaurant knowing that it might be the last meal that you ever eat,” he said. “Where is the enjoyment in eating something that has no risk in it?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Personally, I like assurances my food is safe, but I am also not in favor of farm raised fish.\u00a0 Will a safer variety of fugu make this delicacy so common place supermarket sushi will feature it?\u00a0 Perhaps fugu chefs fear their elitism would be threatened by a safer variety.<\/p>\n

The 50,000 safe puffer fish are not the first of their kind.\u00a0 In 2004, 4800 non-toxic blowfish were raised at Nagasaki University<\/a> by restricting their diet and isolating the fish.\u00a0 Scientists believe it is the diet of mollusks, algae, invertebrates, and crustaceans and their digestion that causes the fugu to be so toxic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Considered a delicacy by many, puffer fish are the second most deadly vertebrate in the world.\u00a0 In fact, in order to prepare fugu, Japanese chefs must obtain a special license after three years of apprenticeship.\u00a0 Only 30% of chefs actually pass the test and become fugu licensed.\u00a0 The dangers of preparing and eating blowfish may […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[12,19],"tags":[130,2854,240,795,1130,1132,1735,1908,2105],"yst_prominent_words":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/fugu.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4492"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}