In the future, Chinese hackers will no longer have to sneak out to taste the "big crown" puffer fish.

On September 5 this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Food and Drug Administration and other three ministries and commissions jointly issued the "Notice on the Conditional Release of the Cultured Red-fin Oriental Pupae and the Cultivation of the Twenty-Oriented Oriental Pheasant" (hereinafter referred to as the "Prohibition" Notice ).

This also means that since 1990, the controversial and policy-changing pufferfish “fasting order” has been conditionally “legalized” after 26 years.

澎湃News interviews with aquaculture operators have learned that the above-mentioned “limited ban” order will have a major impact on the puffer fish farming industry, and the market demand that has been suppressed for nearly three decades will continue to rise as the policy is released.

It is understood that in Japan, South Korea and other places, puffer fish has been circulating in the market.

Delicious puffer fish and poisoning controversy

Chinese people's hobby for puffer fish has been circulating for a long time. The most popular poems belong to Su Dongpo's "The buds of Artemisia sinensis are short, and it is the time when the puffer fish is on." In the area of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, the puffer fish is called "the Yangtze River Sanxian" together with the squid and the swordfish.

Although the puffer fish tastes delicious, the tetrodotoxin in the wild puffer fish is highly toxic. Tetrodotoxin is reported to block sodium ion channels and block axonal conduction, leading to death from nerve palsy. 0.0005 grams of tetrodotoxin or 0.001 grams of puffer acid is enough to kill a 1 kilogram puppy.

It is also based on safety considerations. In 1990, the Ministry of Health issued a “ban” – “The Aquatic Products Hygiene Management Measures” clearly stated: “The puffer fish is highly toxic and must not flow into the market”. Prior to this, as a delicious food for the millennium, the death of wild puffer fish poisoning occasionally occurred, but the regulatory aspect has been blank. Since then, at the policy level, the consumption and culture of puffer fish has been swimming on the edge of the gray.

However, according to experts, the toxicity of different types of puffer fish varies greatly.

Yin Shaowu, a teacher at the School of Life Sciences at Nanjing Normal University, who has been studying puffer fish for many years, introduced the news. There are many kinds of puffer fish, and there are 19 kinds of oriental dolphins. "The difference in toxins between different breeds of puffer fish is very obvious." For example, the dark-streaked oriental porpoise, which swims from the sea to the freshwater to lay eggs, is less toxic. After years of artificial breeding, it can be determined that there is no risk of eating.

"Therefore, in order to let the cultured puffer fish go straight to the table, the first and foremost thing is to start with its safety." President of the China National Fisheries Association, the pufferfish branch, Jiangsu Zhongyang Group Co., Ltd. Chairman Qian Xiaoming told the news that “Can we control tetrodotoxin from the source through the breeding process?”

In 1993, Zhongyang Group began this research. They studied the mechanism and influence factors of tetrodotoxin production, studied the control of toxins in puffer feed and puffer gonad development, and fixed various control measures by standard methods. Later, in 2001, the standardization demonstration area of Takifugu obscurus was established, and the invention patent for puffer fish poisoning and healthy breeding was obtained, and a series of national standards for puffer fish were formulated.

"Through these standardized control measures, after nearly 20 years of 8 generations of breeding, Zhongyang dark-spotted oriental scorpion does not produce toxins and has stable traits. It has been sampled by the Food Inspection Institute of the Ministry of Health and the National Center for Disease Control for 10 consecutive years. No poison." Qian Xiaoming said.

He presented a test report issued by the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment to the Department of Health, which showed that the blood, liver, fish, testis and ovaries of Zhongyang brand Takifugu obscurus were non-toxic.

According to internationally accepted identification standards, tetrodotoxin content can be divided into four levels: non-toxic, attenuated, toxic, and virulent. The detection content is less than 2.2mg/kg and is non-toxic.

At present, the products of the cultured red-finned oriental carp and the cultured dark-striped oriental scorpion are produced by the National Center for Disease Control, the Inspection and Quarantine Bureau of the Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, and the local quality inspection institute. Almost all of the toxins were less than or less than 0.05 mg/kg of toxin. The highest test result to date is 0.21 mg/kg, which is much less than one tenth of the limit value. The conclusion indicates that the toxic content of cultured river otter is significantly reduced, can reach non-toxic grade, and can be safely consumed after non-toxic processing.

Puffer fish "limited opening ban"

In September this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and other three ministries and commissions issued a notice of "opening the ban", which gave a "fasting order" to the pufferfish that had been controversial for nearly three decades.

Although there are dozens of puffer fish species, the two conditions of the "Notice" are only the two kinds of oriental cockroaches - the red-finned oriental cockroach and the dark-striped oriental cockroach. According to a survey by the China National Fisheries Association's Blowfish Branch, these two species of oriental carp are the most widely farmed and consumed in China.

澎湃News reporters interviewed industry farmers to learn that red-fin oriental oysters are mainly marine aquaculture. Most of the products are exported to Japan, Korea and other countries. The breeding bases are mostly in Liaoning, Hebei and Shandong. The cultured species in the Yangtze River Basin are Mainly, the products are mainly sold domestically, and Jiangsu and Guangdong are the main breeding bases.

According to industry experts, these two oriental alfalfa varieties have accumulated more than 20 years of experience, and their technical and safety control methods are fully mature. However, other oriental alfalfa varieties are still prohibited.

However, even if it is a limited "opening ban" (only for the two varieties of Oriental cockroaches have conditions to open), this result is still very difficult to obtain.

In fact, as early as the 1970s, Japanese puffer fish farming began. In 1978, Japan conducted a series of studies on the toxicity of puffer fish, and in 1983 promulgated the health management regulations for puffer fish, specifying in detail the edible puffer fish species and parts in Japan and the process from fishing to consumption. In addition to the hygienic practices that have been followed, a system for puffer fish hotels and chefs has been established. At present, the management system for puffer fish in Japan has been perfected.

Experts told 澎湃 News that the management of the puffer fish market is mainly aimed at the end of the puffer fish circulation field. The Japanese government emphasizes that restaurants that serve puffer fish must have a legal business license and be equipped with a special puffer fish chef. China is hoping to manage and regulate from the initial stages of puffer fish circulation.

The “conditional liberalization” policy of the national ministry is a continuation of this idea – ensuring standardized farming through the filing of the puffer fish source base, and ensuring the safety of puffer fish entering the market through strict review of the processing of puffer fish. Non-toxic.

Meng Xuesong, chairman of Dalian Tianzheng Industrial Co., Ltd., one of the leading companies in China's puffer fish culture, told 澎湃 News, “This is inseparable from the fact that there are many Chinese, restaurants and chefs who are difficult to manage centrally.” This also makes puffer fish The road to lifting the ban is repeated and long.

The spring of the puffer fish industry is coming

Since some species of puffer fish that have been farmed have reached a non-toxic level, why is the news of puffer fish poisoning occasionally appearing in recent years?

澎湃News reporters retrieved the 2015 news, and there were 7 reported puffer fish poisoning incidents. The news noted that in these poisoning incidents, some of the pufferfish were "fished in the river", some were "buy hawkers on the roadside", and two cases were "snapped in the vegetable market." In all cases of poisoning, wild puffer fish are cooked by themselves. Obviously, "the way is unknown, cooking by yourself" is the crux of these puffer fish poisoning incidents.

"Tell the people who can eat puffer fish safely, in order to effectively prevent the puffer fish poisoning phenomenon." Qian Xiaoming, chairman of the Zhongyang Group, believes that the conditional liberalization policy has changed the past practice of "only blocking the situation", the people No need to secretly engage in puffer fish to eat.

Liu Dayong, general manager of Jiangsu Zhongyang Ecological Fish Co., Ltd. said that the limited ban policy can be said to be a "double insurance" policy. At the source, the farmed puffer fish is actually non-toxic, but the puffer fish that must be processed in the market must also be processed. “In this way, it is more safe and safe.”

According to him, the policy is conditionally liberalized, which is a major positive for the pufferfish industry, and sales will rise. At the same time, as puffer fish is no longer exclusive to high-end diners, prices may fall. “Every family can afford puffer fish, and pufferfish really enter the family table.”

A news survey found that behind the little puffer fish, there is actually a huge industry hidden. The maturity of artificial farming technology and the loosening of national control policies have accelerated the industrialization of puffer fish.

According to the news, the puffer fish business is not only some large-scale breeding enterprises, but also some fishermen who breed puffer fish in Shanghai and Guangdong. In the north, there is also a farming model for enterprises and farmers, and the enterprises distribute the fry to the farmer’s home.

According to the incomplete statistics of the China National Fisheries Association's puffer fish branch, there are more than 4,000 households directly engaged in puffer fish farming in the Huang Bohai area and the Yangtze River basin. The entire puffer fish industry chain employs more than 500,000 people, including seedlings, cultivation, technical services, bait supply, live fish and chilled fish transportation, compound feed processing, fishery facilities and export trade, etc. The chain extension is the hotel catering industry.

According to the statistics of the association, the total amount of pufferfish culture in China is nearly 50,000 tons. Most of them are exported to Japan and South Korea, and most of them are consumed by the domestic market.

However, due to the previous ban on puffer fish in the country, the price of puffer fish exported to countries such as Japan and South Korea has been suppressed, which makes the domestic export of puffer fish enterprises "heartless" but helpless.

 "If the domestic market is not liberalized, and the foreign market is only Japan and South Korea, the pricing power is completely in the hands of others, and finally it can only be sold at a low price." Meng Xuesong said that after the "release of the ban", it was exported to Japan, South Korea and other places. Puffer fish will be a warped business and export prices will rise.

For the puffer fish aquaculture enterprises that are mainly in the domestic market, the demand for puffer fish is soaring. First, the old babies who love puffer fish can eat puffer fish justifiably, and those who have not eaten before have the opportunity to taste delicious. "We hope that the future puffer fish can make ordinary people can afford it, and it is more close to the people. The puffer fish is no longer a legendary taste." Qian Xiaoming said.

Qian Xiaoming expects that demand to promote industrial development, which has been suppressed for nearly 30 years, will continue to rise as the policy is released. In the future, more and more people will join the puffer fish farming, processing, logistics, sales, catering and other industrial chains.

“The strength of the puffer industry will be increased,” said Meng Xuesong. Small and medium-sized aquaculture enterprises will gradually be included in the management of large-scale bases. In the future, the “company + base + farmer + standardization” model will become the mainstream. Through the formation of professional cooperatives and other organizations, the use of high standards to survive the fittest, and promote the healthy development of the industry.

Along with this, there is also a scientific research on puffer fish. According to scientific research literature, in addition to the meat quality, the puffer fish has been a daunting puffer fish toxin. High purity tetrodotoxin with high pharmaceutical and commercial value. With the development of marine drugs, tetrodotoxin has become more and more widely used in clinical applications, and it is a useful tool for neurobiology and physiology research.

“Retrospective of the entire puffer industry chain, from upstream farming to downstream catering industry, to related scientific research, the industrial development of puffer fish has shown a thriving trend. It can be said that the spring of industry is coming.” Qian Xiaoming told the news .