James Silverton wrote:

> I have been in contact with the US FDA and have received the following
> information.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Escolar, puffer fish, and whelk
>
> There are naturally occurring toxins in some species that do not involve
> marine algae. Escolar (i.e. Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, Ruvettus pretiosus)
> contains a strong purgative oil, called gempylotoxin. FDA advises against
> importation. See Import Bulletin 16-B55.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Even if my one experience indicated that white tuna *was* delicious, I
> can certainly corroborate the purgative effect!

Whelk? Aren't those snails?

Anyway, could there be a quality issue? I've been eating "Super White Tuna"
for years now, roughly 2 orders a sitting, and no ill effects.

--
Dan

Dan Logcher wrote:
> James Silverton wrote:
>
>> I have been in contact with the US FDA and have received the
>> following information.
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>> Escolar, puffer fish, and whelk
>>
>> There are naturally occurring toxins in some species that do not
>> involve marine algae. Escolar (i.e. Lepidocybium flavobrunneum,
>> Ruvettus pretiosus) contains a strong purgative oil, called
>> gempylotoxin. FDA advises against importation. See Import Bulletin
>> 16-B55.
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Even if my one experience indicated that white tuna *was*
>> delicious,
>> I can certainly corroborate the purgative effect!
>
> Whelk? Aren't those snails?
>
> Anyway, could there be a quality issue? I've been eating "Super
> White Tuna" for years now, roughly 2 orders a sitting, and no ill
> effects.

Good luck to you Dan but the purgative effect is confirmed by a lot of
people and it must be your digestion (g). I can certainly see eating
the stuff if you can since, as I mentioned, it tastes pretty good!
Whelks, as you say are large thick-shelled sea snails, and even my
omnivorous relatives never ate them when I was growing up in Britain.
Tho' I never enjoyed them, my family *did* eat periwinkles which are
smaller sea snails with thin blackish shells. They used to be pretty
popular and sold at street stands in London.


--
James V. Silverton
Potomac, Maryland, USA

James Silverton wrote:

> Dan Logcher wrote:
>
>> James Silverton wrote:
>>
>>> I have been in contact with the US FDA and have received the
>>> following information.
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Escolar, puffer fish, and whelk
>>>
>>> There are naturally occurring toxins in some species that do not
>>> involve marine algae. Escolar (i.e. Lepidocybium flavobrunneum,
>>> Ruvettus pretiosus) contains a strong purgative oil, called
>>> gempylotoxin. FDA advises against importation. See Import Bulletin
>>> 16-B55.
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Even if my one experience indicated that white tuna *was* delicious,
>>> I can certainly corroborate the purgative effect!
>>
>>
>> Whelk? Aren't those snails?
>>
>> Anyway, could there be a quality issue? I've been eating "Super
>> White Tuna" for years now, roughly 2 orders a sitting, and no ill
>> effects.
>
>
> Good luck to you Dan but the purgative effect is confirmed by a lot of
> people and it must be your digestion (g). I can certainly see eating the
> stuff if you can since, as I mentioned, it tastes pretty good! Whelks,
> as you say are large thick-shelled sea snails, and even my omnivorous
> relatives never ate them when I was growing up in Britain. Tho' I never
> enjoyed them, my family *did* eat periwinkles which are smaller sea
> snails with thin blackish shells. They used to be pretty popular and
> sold at street stands in London.

Perhaps, but I am not the only one.. Lots of people are ordering it from
this place, and keep ordering it. So it would seem many people do not have
a problem like you did.

--
Dan

Dan Logcher wrote:

>
> Perhaps, but I am not the only one.. Lots of people are ordering it from
> this place, and keep ordering it. So it would seem many people do not have
> a problem like you did.
>


Perhaps in addition to the differences in digistive ability, there is
also a difference in what the "white tuna" actually is - escolar,
albacore or something else.

I've had bincho maguro that was slightly pinkish, did have a tunaish
taste and was told it was albacore.

I have come across "escolar" being served as sashimi and called escolar
AFAIK
See
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php...b9281 043aeef


Das

Sazerac2k wrote:

> Dan Logcher wrote:
>
>>
>> Perhaps, but I am not the only one.. Lots of people are ordering it from
>> this place, and keep ordering it. So it would seem many people do not
>> have
>> a problem like you did.
>>
>
>
> Perhaps in addition to the differences in digistive ability, there is
> also a difference in what the "white tuna" actually is - escolar,
> albacore or something else.
>
> I've had bincho maguro that was slightly pinkish, did have a tunaish
> taste and was told it was albacore.
>
> I have come across "escolar" being served as sashimi and called escolar
> AFAIK
> See
> http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php...b9281 043aeef

The place I go has both bincho maguro and "super white tuna". You cannot confuse
the two. The SWT is bright white, firm, and oily. The bincho maguro is pinkish
and extremely tender.

--
Dan

In ups.com,
MaguroMark > typed:

> Hey people.
> I ordered White Tuna at a Thai restaurant here in Texas and was
> served
> five wedges of sashimi. Two days later I felt like an oil well
> was
> discovered in my bowels.


Then that was probably escolar.


> After a week or so of wondering what the hell was going on, I
> visited
> a Sake Cafe here and ordered the White Tuna, was served two
> wedges of
> sashimi and was fine for the following week.


And that was probably *not* escolar, but some other fish.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup


> I wonder if restaurants are serving White Tuna/Escolar that is
> from
> different suppliers, and if so, is that possible? Can there be
> two
> distinct White Tuna species?
> Sorry for the obvious dumb question......
>
> Mark

James Silverton wrote:

> Dan Logcher wrote:
>
>>
>> Next time I'm at Sushi Island, I will order both and take a picture.
>> And some sawara if they have it.. and iwashi and saba.. oh man, I'm
>> drooling already.
>
> The chirashi that provoked my original post (and the unfortunate
> situation three hours later) was absolutely pure white. I'm not in the
> habit of using words from languages that I don't speak so I will
> continue to refer to it as "white tuna" which indeed was what the head
> sushi chef called it when I asked him about it. Foreign words may
> contribute to precision but a non-speaker cannot always tell if they are
> being used correctly. The restaurant had the usual beer company placards
> with Japanese names and translations but there was no mention of white
> tuna.


I've seen some menu that list white tuna for albacore and super white tuna
for escolar. So I can see how some people may get confused by the naming.
I cannot get a straight answer from the chefs about the Japanese name of
SWT.


> "Escolar" and its known unfortunate effects on at least some people came
> up when I started to investigate the subject on the web. There are
> several government notices about it, two of which I have quoted.

Yes, I've seen the government notices way back when SWT first started to
come around. So I started making note when I ate it to see if I had any
sort of distress. Some chefs won't serve it because of the warning, and
maybe they had issues too..

--
Dan

"Dan Logcher" > wrote in message
...
> James Silverton wrote:
>
> > Dan Logcher wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Next time I'm at Sushi Island, I will order both and take a picture.
> >> And some sawara if they have it.. and iwashi and saba.. oh man, I'm
> >> drooling already.
> >
> > The chirashi that provoked my original post (and the unfortunate
> > situation three hours later) was absolutely pure white. I'm not in the
> > habit of using words from languages that I don't speak so I will
> > continue to refer to it as "white tuna" which indeed was what the head
> > sushi chef called it when I asked him about it. Foreign words may
> > contribute to precision but a non-speaker cannot always tell if they are
> > being used correctly. The restaurant had the usual beer company placards
> > with Japanese names and translations but there was no mention of white
> > tuna.
>
>
> I've seen some menu that list white tuna for albacore and super white tuna
> for escolar. So I can see how some people may get confused by the naming.
> I cannot get a straight answer from the chefs about the Japanese name of
> SWT.
>

This kind of supports what I heard, that Abura bouzu (escolar) is banned in
Japan
for raw consumption. Either they don't know the Japanese name (nearly
impossible
for any half decent Japanese itamae) or they would just rather not "talk
about it".

> > "Escolar" and its known unfortunate effects on at least some people came
> > up when I started to investigate the subject on the web. There are
> > several government notices about it, two of which I have quoted.
>
> Yes, I've seen the government notices way back when SWT first started to
> come around. So I started making note when I ate it to see if I had any
> sort of distress. Some chefs won't serve it because of the warning, and
> maybe they had issues too..
>

Having read about SWT here in the Newsgroup some time ago, I made an effort
to
locate it and try it, which I did. 3-4 pieces had no effect on me, but that
could be just me.
Clearly the effect varies from person to person.

OK...I'm redesigning my favorite sushi restaurant's menu and last
weekend was the photo shoot. For the sushi portion of the menu, I took
a picture of this jpg. On the left hand side top to bottom is salmon
(sake), white tuna, shrimp and octopus. The right hand side is squid,
tuna, red snapper and crab.

The white tuna I am familiar with is extremely snow blind white, very
oily (when it touches my wasabi/soy sauce mixture it leaves a thin film
of oil) and when served very cold resembles yellow tail in consistency.

http://www.mynameislegion.com/sushi.jpg

Mark

In ,
Dan Logcher > typed:

> Ken Blake wrote:
>
>> I used to get the gastrointestinal problems some of the times
>> I
>> ate it, but not always, so it took me a while to connect the
>> problems with the fish. Once I finally did, I stopped eating
>> it,
>> although it was perhaps my favorite cooked fish.
>
> How was it prepared?


When I made it, I just rubbed it with olive oil and grilled it on
the barbecue. I can't remember exactly how it was done when I've
had it in restaurants, but it was always very simple--probably
very similar to the way I did it.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup