15 Die Eating Puffer Fish in Thailand

[Foxy Brown]

Unscrupulous vendors in Thailand have been selling meat of the deadly puffer fish disguised as salmon, causing the deaths of more than 15 people over the past three years, a doctor said Thursday.

[JFC]

Remind me to not order salmon if I'm ever in Thailand.

[ShoujoHino]

um, isn't puffer fish fugu? Fugu is white-fleshed fish, and salmon is of course pink meat. how could they not tell? people need to check before they eat a little better.
edit: ok, I actually read the article. so they dyed it. but still, too much work to dye it! just say it's whitefish! LOL

[JFC]

Maybe they don't get/eat a lot of salmon in Thailand?

[Tuffty]

Oh wow. At first I thought it was eaten by choice. In which case I wouldn't have much sympathy for them. Why would you eat something that could kill you? It's ridiculous. But to have it disguised, that's just wrong.

[alg7]

I haven't tried puffer fish myself but from what I hear when you put it into your mouth the Fugu fish has natural toxins that supposedly gives a numbing effect.  Consumers should be able to tell the difference with the taste and texture of the fish. I heard in Japan, chefs need to go through rigorous testing to obtain some kind of special license to sell and prepare the fish.

To be safe, I would always double check what I'm eating just to be sure it's not something different than what I originally ordered. I still don't understand why the Thai vendors would sell disguised poisonous Fugu fish to the public? Fugu seems to be more expensive than salmon as well, it doesn't make any sense.

[Guchi_Jnr]

^ Just a couple of things..

Fugu doesn't give a numbing effect, and if it did, I would start to worry..
And Fugu is not expensive itself... The expensive part of eating Fugu, is the chef's pay..

And yes, I have had Fugu a bunch of times... There's even a Fugu restaurant on the corner, where you choose which one you want to eat..

[StreakInTheSky]

I'd love to try fugu some day. I heard it was really good.

And yeah if prepared right, it shouldn't have any toxins in it.
But I heard that some people like to have a tiny bit of the toxin in the fish, because it does give a numbing effect. But I wouldn't even risk it, as it doesn't take much to make you sick or kill you.

But back on topic, for people to sell this to people as something else is just fucked up.

The problem with telling the difference while you're eating it is that it could already be too late.

[sid_coz]

i never knew salmon was SUCH a delicacy in Thailand, that u would disguise other fish and sell  !!!
Quite right..... no salmon for me in Thailand!

[THUNDERDUCK]

Gucchi, how is fugu prepared exactly?  I can't imagine anything tasting so good, I'd be willing to die for.

[shadowstar]

Gucchi, how is fugu prepared exactly?  I can't imagine anything tasting so good, I'd be willing to die for.

Nothing special is done to it, really, besides fancy cutting and presentation. As Guchi mentioned, what's expensive is paying for the chef (not the actual fish itself) since he's trained so well to make sure to slice out the toxic parts.