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Abstract

Background and purpose. World-wide there are few countries in which pufferfish (fugu) is eaten as in Japan. In Vietnam, pufferfish has been banned since it’s toxic ocurred due to lack of knowledge about distinguish non-toxic species. Consequently, there is a huge amount of pufferfish inhabiting in Vietnamese water, but whenever accidentally catching it, we have to throw or use as fertilizer. To develop culinary culture of non-toxic pufferfish in Vietnam, it is very important and essential to recognize safe species and culture them in good condition, then apply proper method to process that become safety foods. In order to initial setting up for such purpose, we carried out a sensory study in Vietnamese to test whether they can accept foods made from fugu by method of Japanese. Methods. We compared the sensory reaction to Japanese cultured Takifugu rubripes and fish from Vietnamese waters: grouper and mackerel. The 107 panelists were Vietnamese volunteers working in the field of nutrition, employees of marine companies, or government officials who could influence the relevant laws. Each panelist tried 10 dishes which were prepared by chefs holding a Japanese fugu license. After eating, they were asked to fill out the sensory questionnaire, used a five-point scoring method, with 5 as the highest score, and reaction rating questionnaire. Results. The average score for the various puffer dishes was 4.40 in the good rank flavor was rated best. For questions such as "would you like to eat more Fugu, do you want to introduce it to others, do you want fugu to become a new food culture?", Over 90% of the panels answered "Yes". Conclusion. Fugu‘s acceptable flavor was confirmed for Vietnamese when it was prepared properly by fugu-licensed Japanese chefs.