Dear all,

last week the fish department in one of the larger supermarkets had a real huge red tunafish (about 2 meters long!) and next to it, there was a product unknown to me. The salesperson told me it was actually the liver from that giant tuna and argued that it had simply to be pan-fried with some parsley and garlic ("une petite persillade").

As both my wife and I love tuna and (calves!) liver and as we are always into culinary adventures, I bought some, and I have to admit that the taste and texture were absolutely superb: tender, juicy, with only a slight bitter touch... almost foie gras like...

The bad news: we woke up the next morning and were sick (skin rash, headaches plus a few others symptoms you can easily imagine...).

As I am convinced that the liver was fresh, I am intrigued by the following question: could it possibly be that tuna liver is not meant to be consumed by humans... as the only references in google refer to it as being used for... cat food?

If anyone has a clou, please let me know...

Best regards

Yves

PS: no, we won't have pedigree pal for dinner tonight

"Yves T." wrote in message ...
Dear all,

last week the fish department in one of the larger supermarkets had a real huge red tunafish (about 2 meters long!) and next to it, there was a product unknown to me. The salesperson told me it was actually the liver from that giant tuna and argued that it had simply to be pan-fried with some parsley and garlic ("une petite persillade").

As both my wife and I love tuna and (calves!) liver and as we are always into culinary adventures, I bought some, and I have to admit that the taste and texture were absolutely superb: tender, juicy, with only a slight bitter touch... almost foie gras like...

The bad news: we woke up the next morning and were sick (skin rash, headaches plus a few others symptoms you can easily imagine...).

As I am convinced that the liver was fresh, I am intrigued by the following question: could it possibly be that tuna liver is not meant to be consumed by humans... as the only references in google refer to it as being used for... cat food?

If anyone has a clou, please let me know...

Best regards

Yves

PS: no, we won't have pedigree pal for dinner tonight

As liver is the 'Garbage Filter' in any creature's body...I'd suspect that you got one that was doing a good job. The rash sounds like 'chloracne' & the other symptoms are in line with a dose of industrial toxins.... PCBs or some form of covalent chlorine. I'm no expert & There may be a chemist or two on this NG who can give you a more accurate assesment... hope you are feeling better... If you are worried about toxic build up, a little activated charcoal & some high fiber food suppliments can help clean you out.

Cheers
Mathew

"Yves T." wrote in message ...
Dear all,

last week the fish department in one of the larger supermarkets had a real huge red tunafish (about 2 meters long!) and next to it, there was a product unknown to me. The salesperson told me it was actually the liver from that giant tuna and argued that it had simply to be pan-fried with some parsley and garlic ("une petite persillade").

As both my wife and I love tuna and (calves!) liver and as we are always into culinary adventures, I bought some, and I have to admit that the taste and texture were absolutely superb: tender, juicy, with only a slight bitter touch... almost foie gras like...

The bad news: we woke up the next morning and were sick (skin rash, headaches plus a few others symptoms you can easily imagine...).

As I am convinced that the liver was fresh, I am intrigued by the following question: could it possibly be that tuna liver is not meant to be consumed by humans... as the only references in google refer to it as being used for... cat food?

If anyone has a clou, please let me know...

Best regards

Yves

PS: no, we won't have pedigree pal for dinner tonight

As liver is the 'Garbage Filter' in any creature's body...I'd suspect that you got one that was doing a good job. The rash sounds like 'chloracne' & the other symptoms are in line with a dose of industrial toxins.... PCBs or some form of covalent chlorine. I'm no expert & There may be a chemist or two on this NG who can give you a more accurate assesment... hope you are feeling better... If you are worried about toxic build up, a little activated charcoal & some high fiber food suppliments can help clean you out.

Cheers
Mathew

Thanks for the clue, Matthew,
yes, we are both feeling better by now and the trouble we had was probably due to some PCB or mercury "stored" by the tuna's liver. The lesson to be learned is that you better stick to younger animals (veal vs. beef...) when it comes to offal.

Incidentally the Gigondas 1998 "prestige des hautes garrigues" we had with it was as memorable (on the positive note) as the dish itself.

Regards

Yves
"Mathew Kagis" wrote in message news:kn6Wc.38259$S55.13220@clgrps12...

"Yves T." wrote in message ...
Dear all,

last week the fish department in one of the larger supermarkets had a real huge red tunafish (about 2 meters long!) and next to it, there was a product unknown to me. The salesperson told me it was actually the liver from that giant tuna and argued that it had simply to be pan-fried with some parsley and garlic ("une petite persillade").

As both my wife and I love tuna and (calves!) liver and as we are always into culinary adventures, I bought some, and I have to admit that the taste and texture were absolutely superb: tender, juicy, with only a slight bitter touch... almost foie gras like...

The bad news: we woke up the next morning and were sick (skin rash, headaches plus a few others symptoms you can easily imagine...).

As I am convinced that the liver was fresh, I am intrigued by the following question: could it possibly be that tuna liver is not meant to be consumed by humans... as the only references in google refer to it as being used for... cat food?

If anyone has a clou, please let me know...

Best regards

Yves

PS: no, we won't have pedigree pal for dinner tonight

As liver is the 'Garbage Filter' in any creature's body...I'd suspect that you got one that was doing a good job. The rash sounds like 'chloracne' & the other symptoms are in line with a dose of industrial toxins.... PCBs or some form of covalent chlorine. I'm no expert & There may be a chemist or two on this NG who can give you a more accurate assesment... hope you are feeling better... If you are worried about toxic build up, a little activated charcoal & some high fiber food suppliments can help clean you out.

Cheers
Mathew

You might look at:

______________________________________

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/courses...5classvit.html

______________________________________

Some animal livers such as polar bear,seal, tuna, etc. contain extremely
high concentrations of Vitamin A. Even eating one meal of polar bear
liver produces extreme toxic effects from the massive overdose of
Vitamin A you get. I do not have information about how much tuna liver
you would have to eat to produce illness. The Merck Manual, 7th ed. does
report: "Within a few hours of ingestimg several million units of vitami
A in polar bear or seal liver, arctic explorers developed drowsiness,
irritability, headache, and vomiting, with subsquent peeling of skin."

Unfortunately I have not found an analysis for the vitamin A content in
tuna liver, so it is not possible to say if one meal of it would cause
problems. However, having tuna liver listed in the report with the URL
above makes one wonder.

My mailbox is always full to avoid spam. To contact me, erase
from my email address. Then add . I do not
check this box every day, so post if you need a quick response.

"Cwdjrx _" wrote in message
...
The Merck Manual, 7th ed. does
report: "Within a few hours of ingestimg several million units of vitami
A in polar bear or seal liver, arctic explorers developed drowsiness,
irritability, headache, and vomiting, with subsquent peeling of skin."

I'm sure glad I didn't read this while I was eating dinner. 8^P~~~|

Tom S

I did find the below in a report from Micronesia.

______________________________________

Vitamin A results
The retinol content ranged from 3200 =C2=B5g/100g in the lidoi parrot
fish to 204,012 =C2=B5g/100g in the yellowfin tuna liver. A 60-gram
portion (about 3 tablespoons), which was the average weight for the
yellowfin tuna liver for the sample, would provide over 200 times the
daily estimated requirements of a non-pregnant, non-breastfeeding woman.

______________________________________

I do not know where the toxic effects start to show up, but a single 3
tablespoon serving of yellowfn tuna liver would require you to swallow
200 vitamin pills containing one recommended daily dose of Vitamin A to
equal the A in the tuna liver.

My mailbox is always full to avoid spam. To contact me, erase
from my email address. Then add . I do not
check this box every day, so post if you need a quick response.

I did find the below in a report from Micronesia.

______________________________________

Vitamin A results
The retinol content ranged from 3200 =C2=B5g/100g in the lidoi parrot
fish to 204,012 =C2=B5g/100g in the yellowfin tuna liver. A 60-gram
portion (about 3 tablespoons), which was the average weight for the
yellowfin tuna liver for the sample, would provide over 200 times the
daily estimated requirements of a non-pregnant, non-breastfeeding woman.

______________________________________

I do not know where the toxic effects start to show up, but a single 3
tablespoon serving of yellowfn tuna liver would require you to swallow
200 vitamin pills containing one recommended daily dose of Vitamin A to
equal the A in the tuna liver.

My mailbox is always full to avoid spam. To contact me, erase
from my email address. Then add . I do not
check this box every day, so post if you need a quick response.

Now that was a pretty accurate description of all the symptoms we developed,
especially the peeling of skin (which I did not mention in my first post).
Feeling pretty happy that I am not an arctic explorer!

Yves

"Tom S" wrote in message
om...

"Cwdjrx _" wrote in message
...
The Merck Manual, 7th ed. does
report: "Within a few hours of ingestimg several million units of vitami
A in polar bear or seal liver, arctic explorers developed drowsiness,
irritability, headache, and vomiting, with subsquent peeling of skin."

I'm sure glad I didn't read this while I was eating dinner. 8^P~~~|

Tom S

Now that was a pretty accurate description of all the symptoms we developed,
especially the peeling of skin (which I did not mention in my first post).
Feeling pretty happy that I am not an arctic explorer!

Yves

"Tom S" wrote in message
om...

"Cwdjrx _" wrote in message
...
The Merck Manual, 7th ed. does
report: "Within a few hours of ingestimg several million units of vitami
A in polar bear or seal liver, arctic explorers developed drowsiness,
irritability, headache, and vomiting, with subsquent peeling of skin."

I'm sure glad I didn't read this while I was eating dinner. 8^P~~~|

Tom S