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Video: Japan’s Sushi Police

Here’s a wacky new video created by Taiwan’s NMA News. It’s about the All-Japan Sushi Federation’s plan to offer certifications to foreign sushi chefs. The international media seems like like exaggerating such stories to make it sound like Japan is sending “sushi police” to raid and condemn Japanese restaurants that don’t meet their standards:

“Most restaurants overseas make sushi dishes in the same kitchen as those preparing meat,” said Masayoshi Kazato, a leading sushi chef who has devised the certification system.

“It gets unhygienic if you deal with raw salt-water fish in a kitchen without water running constantly for cleaning,” he said.

The group, which represents sushi restaurants in Japan, plans to hold its first seminar in Singapore January 26-27 with similar seminars to be held in London, Los Angles and San Francisco next year.

There is a mounting concern among sushi chefs in Japan that, if food poisoning repeatedly occurs in the world because of a lack of proper knowledge and techniques, sushi may get branded as dangerous food, Kazato said.

While we’re on this topic, here’s a short Fuji Tv news video about the popularity of sushi in Thailand:

The owner of the restaurant says he takes a lot of steps to ensure that sushi is prepared in a safe and hygienic manner. An expert Japanese chef with proper Japanese certifications runs the kitchen. The restaurant is presented as an example of a properly-run establishment, but it is noted that many other sushi restaurants around the world have not taken such strict safety measures.

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22 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - January 12, 2011 at 10:00 am

Categories: Japanese Food, Odd / Strange Tags:

http://www.feitclub.com feitclub

Funny how the animation portrays foreign sushi chefs as black or caucasian. I have never been to a sushi place that didn’t have asians behind the counter. I laughed at the “pizza police” – I’m a big fan but most of the “pizza” that gets served in Japan is radically different than anything seen in the US or Europe. Of course, that doesn’t make it unhygienic.

cesar

hey, I live in Brazil, the country with most japanese descendants citizens in the world, and I must say it’s pretty knowledgeable that roughly 70%~80% of sushi makers here are not asians

RMilner

If the Japanese were a bit more international in their outlook they would have got DOCG registration for sushi a long time ago, and they could put a stop to all this nonsense.

But it’s probably too late by now.
Sandy

Grayce Pederson is my favourite actress. Glad she made an appearance.
Comment

Ignorant video aside:

Considering that fish are a limited resource, it might be wiser for Japan to turn a blind eye to sushi in foreign countries in the hope that it DOES get a reputation as unsafe. All the more fish for Japan that way.

medaka

Right on. More whale too. Yum!

nagoriyuki

So many people seem to merely like the catchy sound of “sushi police,” don’t they?
Criticizing this certification as “sushi police” is just like condemning TOEIC or TOEFL as “English police.”
vonskippy

Yes, the rocket science of cutting up raw fish is oh so in the need of being protected.

helical

Probably the problem is people getting the not-even-rocket-science wrong and causing food poisoning with unhygienic preparation methods. Or so they are claiming.
medaka

You’ve obviously never seen it done properly.
Anonymous

I don’t know much about sushi cutting, but I do hear more cases of people getting sick from sushi in the States than I do in Japan.

Then again, it’s Japan, so they may not even be reporting it…

Piglet

Some (many?) Japanese are very uncomfortable with the idea of Non-Japanese chefs preparing sushi. I welcome the introduction of worldwide quality labels which will help consumers finding the good sushi places (and avoid the others). However, I am a bit afraid the promoters of this program don’t have this in mind and instead certify mainly restaurants with Japanese chefs and dismiss restaurants with non-Japanese chefs.
Kevin not kevin

So the test will be free, right? In the interests of communicating Japanese culture?
Vox24

The EU started doing this a while ago – the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) designation of the Protected Geographical Status program. Pizza Napoletana has to be made a specific way, or the Pizza Cops will kick down your door. Or something. There’s a lot less hand-wringing about this kind of thing when it’s europeans doing it…

Hamachiman

Of course, come on now.

Anything the Japanese do is ALWAYS related to being xenophobic, racist, you name it.

Never gets old does it.
medaka

Kind of like catching and eating whales, huh?
RMilner

That is the DOCG system.

I’m not aware that pizza generally or any particular variety is protected.

The basis of DOCG is to protect the special names of products such as Parma ham or Melton Mowbray pork pies that are traditionally made within a particular region, using a particular process.

Anyone can make a Parma ham like product, or a pork pie, but they can’t legally call it Parma ham or a Melton Mowbray pie, unless it was made in the region, using the defined method.

cookieraw

If Japan is the only country allowed to use the word sushi,
what will other countries do? Call it “raw fish on rice”
or “uncooked ocean-catch on riceballs” ???

http://ameblo.jp/charlottes-adventure/ miss_igirisu

I met a man on a plane a few years ago, who worked as a “Japanese food checker”. He did as the video says; went round the world checking the quality of Japanese food. When all that fuss was happening with the poisoned gyoza, Japanese tourists going to China fell by a large percent. By checking the quality of Japanese food, they can insure that people will keep coming to Japan.
Karisu

I think it is a complete fabrication that “most” foreign sushi establishments have their sushi prepared along with other meats. In my experience, the vast majority of sushi restaurants in the states -only- serve fish, or at best, hibachi with other meats, but all of that is prepared at the hibachi table.

Everything about this program seems complete bunk.
balsamic

I think it’s fine, but I would also really like to see the reverse here in Japan. Italian food that is not ketchup on spaghetti would be nice, for example.
tvgirl

Very similar to labeling laws for champagne. If the grapes are not from the Champagne region of France it has to be called sparkling wine.

Even how Americans get worked up over definitions of barbecue or chili. I would like to see a barbecue police!

Video: Japan’s Sushi Police

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