should poisoned fugu chef have his license revoked?

from asahi shimbun

Chef poisoned after eating 'fugu'

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2008/10/17

A young cook licensed to prepare the deadly fugu, or blowfish, fell seriously ill last week after eating potentially lethal liver he cooked himself, believing it was safe, Tokyo officials said Wednesday.

The cook, aged in his 30s, has been certified for five years and works at a restaurant in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.

He lost consciousness for about two days after taking a bite of steamed liver he had prepared during a practice session on Oct. 11, metropolitan government officials said.

Liver, ovaries and other fugu organs contain the deadly chemical tetrodotoxin.

The cook regained consciousness and is recovering, the officials said, adding he was unlikely to be disciplined, as an ordinance on handling fugu does not cover cases in which cooks prepare the fish for themselves.

"If we could have our way, we would like to revoke his license for such stupidity," a metropolitan official said.(IHT/Asahi: October 17,2008)

I don't know enough about the practise to tell. It strikes me that when you're cooking animals, doing the exact same thing to each of them is going to create an exceptional result once in a while, due to genetic variety and possible medical conditions among the animals themselves. If this factor accounts for the incident, then this cook does not require specifc scrutiny, but perhaps the practise at large does.

I've always wanted to try Fugu.

I hear that regardless of it's "safe" preparation there's still enough neurotoxin to create a remarkable high. Which is why those crazy Japanese love eating it.

fugu is pretty damn awesome!

cool, what's it like?

I'm a fan of eating any weird thing at least once. I ever tried squid jerky recently, despite it smelling . . . well, pretty much like it tasted i.e. revolting.

I always thought I would like to try fugu.

Come to think of it, a short story I wrote riffing on the fugu concept was in one of Susie Bright's Best American Erotica award anthologies.

I would not like to try fugu prepared by someone not even careful enough to to poison himself.

Screw Fugu. Anything that can potentially kill me better be the best tasting thing in the world. If not, why, just for taste, would you possibly risk your life?

Besides Fugu, what other foods carry such risk? Besides the "thrill" of possibly risking your life, how damn good could it be?

I have no problem trying weird shit. I was raised on the ole "If you don't try, how do you know you don't like it" generation. So, I'm for trying anything that seems edible and tasty...Like Squid jerky...But something that could possibly kill me? It seems like it's more of a thrill than the taste. I think I'd have a better time trying parachuting. The thrill would probably last longer.