vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn  

QUANG NGAI — Because of the risk of deadly poisoning involved, officials from the Department for Food Administration (DFA) under the Ministry of Health last week advised the nation to avoid eating puffer fish.

Health officials from 14 central provinces and cities attended the workshop in Quang Ngai, dubbed Measures to prevent poisoning by pufferfish, to discuss the dangers of eating the fish considered a delicacy in Viet Nam’s coastal areas.

Dr Tran Thi Kim, head of the DFA said that 84 cases of poisoning were reported in 1999, 13 of them fatal. Last year saw 20 deaths.

In the first four months of this year, the incomplete figure stands at 10 deaths nation-wide.

At the workshop, delegates presented measures for reducing the number of deaths. They felt that people should be advised that they are taking their lives into their hands when selecting tasty puffer fish morsels, and ought to be equipped with first aid know-how.

The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Fisheries were urged to set up legal documents to control the trade of the prickly fish.

According to Dr Tran Dang, deputy head of DFA, there are 80 different kinds of puffer fish, and 66 of them are at home in Vietnamese waters. Most of them ply the central coast.

Although the toxin does not exist in the fish’s flesh, it is found in the skin, blood, eyes, liver, kidneys and intestines. The toxin becomes more concentrated in the hatching season, from March to July.

As little as 10 grams on your plate can be fatal, said Dang.

Each year, Viet Nam nets up to 400 tonnes of puffer fish. — VNS

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