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| Boffins want balloon ban to go |
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By: Angela Xu(Shanghai Daily)
Apr 05,2008 |
Experts have recommended the tasty but traditionally poisonous balloon fish, now being successfully bred in Qingpu District, be supplied to Shanghai on a restricted basis.
There is a Chinese saying that to risk one's life to eat balloon fish proves just how delicious it is. For a long time the fish has been banned in Shanghai because many people died after eating it.
Cultivation of the fish has never been abandoned ?? and now breeders say they have come up with a non-toxic version. More than 300 farms are now breeding balloon fish in Qingpu, with 30 million of them produced each year. They have mainly been supplied to Jiangsu Province which allows balloon fish.
Yang Qingfa, a balloon fish breeder who can supply nearly two tons of the fish every day in the peak season of April, said the district's farms are now breeding a fifth generation of the fish. He says tests show the artificially bred balloon fish contains no poison.
"It means non-toxic balloon fish has been cultivated successfully. The fish has been sold well in Jiangsu restaurants and is accepted as being safe and tasty," Yang said.
Wang Xichang, a professor in food safety at the Shanghai Fisheries University, said experts are doing research on balloon fish for safety and market standards.
He suggested that selling balloon fish be allowed in licensed restaurants under strict supervision by the relevant department.
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