Japan has announced that it will ban the sale of raw beef liver in restaurants, following a spate of food poisoning cases last year.
The health ministry has decided to ban restaurants from serving raw beef liver from July 1 due to food poisoning concerns, and violators of the new rule could be fined or even imprisoned.
The ministry made the decision after its food sanitation council approved the policy at a meeting Tuesday.
Enterohemorrhagic E. coli O-157 and Campylobacter bacteria, both of which can cause severe stomachache, have been detected in raw beef liver. A research report said it is difficult to remove or kill the bacteria through screening tests or disinfection, and that liver can only be guaranteed safe to consume if it has been cooked.
Operators of barbecue restaurants and other establishments that ignore the ban on raw beef liver could be sentenced to up to two years in prison or fined up to 2 million yen.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry presented comments submitted by the public over the month through May 18. Although most of the 1,532 opinions were against outlawing raw liver, ministry officials insisted a ban–backed up by penalties–was necessary because there is no 100 percent safe way of eating raw beef liver.
FoodWorld 