After one person died and eight became ill from eating pufferfish in Nantou County, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urged people not to eat seafood from unknown sources, saying that restaurants should avoid serving the poisonous fish.
The Nantou County Police Bureau on Sunday reported that the owner of a small restaurant in Nantou’s Renai Township (仁愛) surnamed Hung (洪) invited eight friends to eat at his restaurant on Saturday evening and served them pufferfish.
The next morning, one of his friends felt numb around his mouth, hands and feet, and went to check on Hung at his home, only to find him lying on the floor not breathing and with no pulse, the bureau said.
Photo provided by police via CNA
The friend called the police and Hung was declared dead, it said, adding that the eight friends were rushed to hospital.
Tetrodotoxin is an extremely potent neurotoxin found in pufferfish — mainly in their liver, ovaries, intestine and skin, the FDA said, adding that it is heat stable, so cooking does not destroy it.
Poisoning can occur as soon as 10 to 45 minutes after ingestion, and symptoms include numbness around the mouth, fingers and toes, as well as a headache, dizziness and vomiting, the FDA said.
In serious cases, it can cause respiratory failure and death, it said.
There are many species of pufferfish, and they are not easy to tell apart, so the best way to avoid pufferfish poisoning is to not catch them and to not eat seafood from an unknown source, the FDA said.
Restaurants should avoid serving pufferfish, and people who suspect they have food poisoning after eating seafood should seek medical attention immediately and, if possible, preserve a specimen of the food they ate for a more accurate diagnosis, it said.
FDA Deputy Director Lin Chin-fu (林金富) yesterday said that the Nantou County Public Health Bureau collected a specimen of the pufferfish that the people ate on Saturday.
It would be examined to identify the pufferfish species consumed and whether it contained tetrodotoxin, he said, adding that the bureau is investigating the source of the pufferfish.
Under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), food or food additives that contain toxins, such as pufferfish, are not allowed to be produced, processed, stored, sold or given as gifts, so in principle, the FDA discourages restaurants from serving pufferfish, and people from catching and eating them, Lin said.
Restaurants that serve pufferfish resulting in food poisoning face a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$200 million (US$1,901 to US$6.34 million), and if the case is serious, the restaurant could be ordered to shut down, while the manager might face a prison sentence, he said.
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