Two ill in the US from mislabeled poisonous puffer fish
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Frozen fish sold as monkfish in US markets could actually be deadly poisonous puffer fish, the US Food and Drug Administration warned Friday.
The FDA said two people who ate a soup with fish imported by the Santa Fe, California company Hong Chang Corp and labeled as monkfish were hospitalized, one with "severe illness" due to the presence of mortally dangerous levels of tetrodotoxin -- the poison found in puffer fish.
The US food regulator said that Hong Chang distributed 282 22-pound (10 kilogram) boxes labeled as monkfish to wholesalers in California, Illinois and Hawaii beginning in September 2006.
One box label read: "frozen monkfish gutted and head-off" and "product of China."
The boxes were then distributed to both restaurants and stores. At least in one case, though, a retailer put on the label "bok," the Korean word for puffer fish, said the FDA in a statement.
"Consumers concerned that they may have purchased this fish should contact their retailer and ask if the product was received from Hong Chang Corp," the FDA said.
"The product should not be eaten, it should be thrown away. Care should be exercised in handling the fish, as the tetrodotoxin may be present on the skin and flesh of the fish. Consumers should wash hands thoroughly after handling the fish."
Puffer fish is valued as a delicacy known as fugu in Japan, where chefs are specially trained to prepare it so it does not endanger the diner.
Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin which paralyzes a person's muscles, and for which there is no antidote.
(http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070525/thl-us-food-fish-poison-0b0437e.html)
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Frozen fish sold as monkfish in US markets could actually be deadly poisonous puffer fish, the US Food and Drug Administration warned Friday.
The FDA said two people who ate a soup with fish imported by the Santa Fe, California company Hong Chang Corp and labeled as monkfish were hospitalized, one with "severe illness" due to the presence of mortally dangerous levels of tetrodotoxin -- the poison found in puffer fish.
The US food regulator said that Hong Chang distributed 282 22-pound (10 kilogram) boxes labeled as monkfish to wholesalers in California, Illinois and Hawaii beginning in September 2006.
One box label read: "frozen monkfish gutted and head-off" and "product of China."
The boxes were then distributed to both restaurants and stores. At least in one case, though, a retailer put on the label "bok," the Korean word for puffer fish, said the FDA in a statement.
"Consumers concerned that they may have purchased this fish should contact their retailer and ask if the product was received from Hong Chang Corp," the FDA said.
"The product should not be eaten, it should be thrown away. Care should be exercised in handling the fish, as the tetrodotoxin may be present on the skin and flesh of the fish. Consumers should wash hands thoroughly after handling the fish."
Puffer fish is valued as a delicacy known as fugu in Japan, where chefs are specially trained to prepare it so it does not endanger the diner.
Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin which paralyzes a person's muscles, and for which there is no antidote.
(http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070525/thl-us-food-fish-poison-0b0437e.html)
