BY NORHAYATI UMOR
SHAH ALAM, JUL 6: The Malaysian Health Ministry (KKM) will introduce a regulation to ban the sale of pufferfish, unless the toxic in its abdomen is removed.
Its Director-General, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham said, it will be done by amending the 1983 Food Act which will ban the import, preparation, advertising or selling of pufferfish.
He said, anyone found guilty under the amended act can be fined RM10,000 or two years imprisonment.
“We are in the process of gazetting the new law.
“The new law was first proposed in 2014 when the ministry received recommendations from the public,” he said as quoted by The Star.
Noor Hisham said, the ministry will continue to educate the public on safe food including the danger of eating pufferfish.
At the moment, Malaysia do not have a body to monitor those who intend to cook and serve the pufferfish as compared to Japan.
From 1985 to 2014, the Desease Control Division has recorded 55 pufferfish poisoning cases and 17 deaths related to ‘tetrodotoxin’.
Recently, the issue of eating pufferfish has been widely discussed. There are businessmen who have been selling the fish fillet in Penang, Kedah and Perak.
