Identification of toxin and fish species in cooked fish liver implicated in food poisoning

Abstract

The cooked fish liver retained by the victims was assayed for toxicity and mitochondrial DNA. Meanwhile, 8 live specimens of puffer Takifugu niphobles were also assayed. The toxicity of cooked fish liver was 280 ± 20 mouse units per gram (MU/g). All specimens of T. niphobles showed high toxicity (more than 850 MU/g) in the liver. The toxin from cooked fish liver and liver of T. niphobles was identified to be tetrodotoxin. The cooked fish liver and fresh liver of T. niphobles showed the same sequence genotype and the same single restriction site for Bsa I. Therefore, the species of cooked fish liver was suggested as T. niphobles.