Source: CCTV Finance
In South Korea, there is a rumor that eating puffer fish can fight cancer, and some merchants have taken advantage of the opportunity to make profits and illegally produce and sell so-called puffer fish "anti-cancer drugs", bringing drug safety risks to consumers. The Korean pharmaceutical administration department recently launched a centralized investigation and rectification in this regard.
A seafood restaurant in Ulsan, on the east coast of South Korea, specializes in puffer fish sashimi, but there is actually a puffer fish extract that is made and sold here, claiming that its products have the effect of treating and preventing cancer, helping to recover after chemotherapy, and can also treat high blood pressure, arthritis and other diseases, and even claim to be developed by experts who hold so-called qualifications. It is estimated that more than 100,000 bags have been sold in South Korea. Recently, it was investigated and punished by the South Korean Food and Drug Safety Ministry for false publicity, and the regulatory authorities have seized all illegal products.
In this rectification, another company was found to have made and sold pills, liquids and other three products using puffer eggs and livers, known as "attacking poison with poison" and using folk remedies to fight cancer.
In fact, although some parts of the puffer fish can be eaten after correct treatment, their eggs, liver, blood and other parts contain highly toxic, especially puffer fish eggs. Tetrodotoxin is more than 1,000 times more toxic than the common highly toxic potassium cyanide, and less than 0.5 milligrams can be fatal, and South Korea has banned the sale of these toxic parts into food. South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety warned that puffer fish not only has no effect on treating or preventing diseases such as cancer, but once it is not handled properly and does not completely remove toxins, it may cause poisoning or even death after consumption.
The reporter learned that among the consumers who purchased the products of the two companies that were investigated and punished this time, many of them were terminal cancer patients with urgent needs and elderly people who were worried about the disease, and they were fooled by merchants to buy at a price higher than similar drugs for a long time, and some cancer patients also thought that they had caught the "life-saving straw" and were completely unaware of the safety risks. This vicious behavior of taking advantage of the health needs of vulnerable groups such as the sick and the elderly to grab commercial benefits has aroused strong anger in Korean society.
South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it will strengthen the supervision and management of puffer fish and its processed foods, and will also increase the rectification of illegal acts of using banned ingredients to make food, while reminding consumers to be cautious about treating diseases with folk remedies, understanding the relevant risks, and being vigilant against false information.
Puffer fish, also known as "turtle fish", "chicken hug", "bubble fish", "air drum fish", etc., are abundant around the Qingming Dynasty, and have always been the first of the "four fresh yangtze rivers", and the fat and beautiful puffer fish are well-known.
However, the puffer fish is cute but extremely hurtful. In China, there is a saying of "desperately eating pufferfish", and there are many incidents of poisoning by eating puffer fish every year. Tetrodotoxin enters the human body, which can paralyze nerves in more than ten seconds and kill people in ten minutes. In 1990, the former Ministry of Health issued the Measures for the Administration of Aquatic Products Sanitation, which clearly stipulated that "puffer fish are highly toxic and must not flow into the market." ”
In 2016, the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Food and Drug Administration jointly issued the "Notice on Conditionally Liberalizing the Processing and Operation of The Cultured Redfin Oriental Pufferfish and the Breeding of Dark-striped Oriental Pufferfish" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), and the pufferfish (commonly known as the "puffer fish") finally had the conditions to "legalize" and eat.
The "Notice" pointed out that the processing and operation of the two varieties of cultivated redfin oriental pufferfish and the cultivation of dark-striped oriental pufferfish should be released in advance and conditionally. Farmed pufferfish should be processed by qualified agricultural product processing enterprises before they can be sold, that is, fresh puffer fish cannot directly enter the hands of consumers, but must be processed by processing enterprises.