Chefs warn on side-effects of sushi boom

TOKYO (Reuters) -
As Japanese sushi conquers restaurants
and homes around the world, industry experts are fighting the
side-effects of the raw fish boom: fake sushi bars,
over-confident amateurs, poisoned consumers.

Once a rare and exotic treat, seaweed rolls and bites of
raw tuna on vinegared rice are now familiar to most food fans.
So familiar, in fact, that many hobby cooks in Europe and the
United States like to make them in their own kitchens.

But chefs and sushi experts at an international restaurant
summit in Tokyo warned of a lack of awareness in handling raw
fish among amateurs and some restaurateurs who enter the
profitable industry without sufficient training.

"Everybody thinks: %26#39;sushi is so expensive -- I can buy
cheap fish, fresh fish, I can make it at home.%26#39; It%26#39;s not true.
Not every fish is suitable to eat raw," chef and restaurateur
Yoshi Tome told Reuters.

Tome%26#39;s restaurant, "Sushi Ran" in Sausalito, California,
was awarded a Michelin star and he often advises customers on
preparing Japanese food.

He sees himself as an educator as well as a chef, and
believes that more and better training opportunities are needed
to prevent food scandals that could hurt the entire industry.

"I get these questions all the time -- people call me: %26#39;Hey
Yoshi, my husband went to fish a big salmon, we%26#39;re looking to
eat it as sashimi. We opened it and a bunch of worms came out.
Can we eat it?"%26#39;

His answer: you cannot eat it as sashimi; but you can throw
away the affected parts and cook and eat the rest.

In fact, Tome said salmon, which is prone to parasites,
should never be eaten raw but be cooked, marinated, or frozen
before being consumed.

He described another case in which an inexperienced
restaurateur in the United States served raw baby crab. This
lead to cases of food poisoning and prompted a recall of that
type of crab. Tome serves the crab deep-fried at his restaurant
and says it is perfectly safe if prepared the right way.

"Here in Japan, some people eat raw chicken, chicken
sashimi. But we know chicken can have salmonella, so in the
U.S. nobody eats raw chicken," he added.

SUSHI POLICE

Japan%26#39;s bureaucrats drew criticism and ridicule a year ago
with a plan to create a global "sushi police" that would assess
Japanese restaurants overseas. Since then, there has been a
change of tactics, and the emphasis is now on education and
advice rather than uninvited checks.

Ryuji Ishii, who runs the Advanced Fresh Concepts Franchise
Corp, the largest supplier of fresh sushi to supermarkets in
the United States, finds that education is important not just
for food safety purposes.

Ishii is rolling out his ready-to-eat sushi range in
Wal-Mart supermarkets, having opened almost 90 sushi stalls
since last September. They are planning some 400 stores in
total.

But bringing raw fish and seaweed to middle America takes
some work -- Ishii cautiously described the sales as "decent."

"The challenge is, we have never dealt with that market. So
far, we%26#39;ve been dealing with a very upscale market, high-end
supermarkets," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the
two-day summit, organized by the Organization to Promote
Japanese Restaurants Abroad.

"In order to become really mainstream, we have to overcome
the Wal-Mart consumers," Ishii said. "We need more time to
educate the consumers."

He tries to tempt shoppers with samples of the most popular
type of sushi in the United States: the California Roll, made
with avocado. Purists might argue that the California Roll, a
U.S. invention, is not real sushi anyway, but Ishii says it
allows customers to have a first taste of Japanese food and
then get hooked on more exotic items -- the ones that include
raw fish.

(Reporting by Sophie Hardach; Editing by Alex Richardson)