
Puffer fish harvested from these Florida counties have been found to contain significant amounts of toxin in the flesh regardless of the preparation technique. Lucie, and Martin counties on the east coast of Florida due to persistent toxicity. The State of Florida currently has a ban on both commercial and recreational harvesting of puffer fish from the waters of Volusia, Brevard, Indian River, St.Therefore there is an increased risk that puffer fish prepared in the United States and elsewhere will be improperly prepared. There is no similar training and certification process for American chefs. It is only imported into the United States on a limited basis under an agreement between FDA and the Japanese government. This company imports the product from processing facilities licensed by the Japanese government to prepare this product using specially trained fish cutters.

Currently, the only acceptable source of imported puffer fish is from a New York importer, Wako International.Due to the potential health hazard, commercial importation of puffer fish into the United States is heavily restricted.In fact, freezing and thawing of the product prior to removal of the toxic organs may result in the migration of toxin into the flesh of the fish. The toxin cannot be destroyed by cooking or freezing.Unless puffer fish is cleaned and prepared in a special manner to carefully remove the organs containing toxin, the flesh of the fish will become contaminated with the toxin.
#BLOWFISH FUGU SKIN#

Initial symptoms include tingling of the lips and mouth, followed by dizziness, tingling in the extremities, problems with speaking, balance, muscle weakness and paralysis, vomiting, and diarrhea. Symptoms start within 20 minutes to 2 hours after eating the toxic fish. These are central nervous system toxins and are more deadly than cyanide. Puffer fish may contain the potent and deadly toxins tetrodotoxin and/or saxitoxin which can cause severe illness and death.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning restaurants and fish markets that serve or sell puffer fish (also known as puffer, fugu, bok, blowfish, globefish, swellfish, balloonfish, or sea squab) not to buy or sell this product unless it is obtained from a known safe source. OctoUpdated January 17, 2014*Īlso available in Chinese, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese
