[kpil]

From a customer's perspective, it's really hard to prove, so I have rarely done anything when I have gotten ill.

Most of the cases it's been rather mild symptoms and I have suspected the canteen at work for serving leftovers that probably hadn't been chilled fast enough. I've simply stopped eating things that I recognize from the past...

I have also gotten sick from moules marinières where I suspect that they used the same tools for fresh and cooked mussels as it must have been some kind of virus that knocked out both me and my friend with a high fever and rather alarming symptoms for 24 hours. I just decided to never go there again...

However, I once called the health and sanity inspectors when I was served a incorrectly cooked Escolar served as "butterfish" at a lunch restaurant, which led to an interesting night for everyone in the same company. The restaurant offered a free meal but I just wanted them to stop serving shit they didn't know how to cook.

[askvictor]

There is no correct way to cook escolar aka butterfish aka olestrafish. It's banned for sale in some places, should be banned everywhere.

[kpil]

Theoretically, you can grill it, and hope that most wax esters will melt, but I wouldn't want to bet my underpants on that again.

I'm told that it also develops histamines in a much higher rate than other fish so there is also a risk for a severe reaction in general.

[dpark]

I can't imagine that most of the fats would melt off without it ruining the fish anyway.

[dpark]

I've eaten escolar multiple times with no ill effects. I certainly think restaurants should educate people about the fish but I don't see that it should be banned.

[askvictor]

I can see the warning on the menu...

[dpark]

Then why ban escolar but not, say, oysters? Escolar might give you acute gastrointestinal discomfort if you eat too much or are particularly sensitive to it. Oysters might give you gastrointestinal stress that lasts for months if you get a bad one. It happened to me. The GI specialist said it was almost certainly an oyster that set off my months of dyspepsia. I don't think that means oysters should be banned just because I had a really bad experience.

Even with a warning, the side effects of escolar are so severe that literally no one should be able to choose to eat it?

[askvictor]

You make good points, but if a warning is mandated, I don't imagine anyone actually selling it. It's not so much intestinal discomfort as unexpectedly crapping your pants due to the indigestible esters.

How do you think the restaurant/fish industry could phrase this in a way that anyone might actually buy it: 'warning: this fish may cause you to unexpectedly shit yourself'

[dpark]

I misunderstood your sarcasm. I thought you were saying you've seen the warning on menus already.

I wonder how common uncontrollable diarrhea from escolar actually is. I don't know anyone who's suffered even minor ill effects, but "I shit myself" isn't something most people would share.

[SpikeDad]

Isolated cases of food poisoning are not common. If food at a restaurant is contaminated most likely multiple people will get ill.

The question is: will people report it to health authorities so that a pattern can be discerned?

[omilu]

I've heard bad things about this fish, but I've had it raw as sushi a few times and nothing bad has happened.

[plorkyeran]

Small amounts of escolar is fine for most people, so if you're eating it in sushi rolls along with other types of fish you're unlikely to eat enough of it to run into trouble.

[kpil]

I think the proper butterfish is something else entirely.

Escolar filets looks like big tuna filets.