Where is pufferfish banned? Every country that bans fugu, in the order the bans came in, on one map.
????️ Every country, with details: https://maps.thatonemap.com/pufferfish/

40 countries ban pufferfish as food today: the 27 EU countries, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, the UK, Turkey, Thailand, the Philippines, and Russia with four Eurasian Union partners (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan). Europe's rule goes back to 1991, and it bans four poisonous fish families at once: pufferfish, porcupinefish, sharpnose puffers and even the ocean sunfish. Five more countries restrict it: the United States (one species, imported from Japan for special occasions), China (farmed fugu only, since 2016), Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia. In Japan and South Korea, fugu is legal, prepared by licensed chefs. And Turkey pays fishermen for every pufferfish they hand in, while selling one as food is illegal.

0:00 Paid to catch it, banned to sell it
0:23 1988: United States - one species, special occasions
0:38 1990: China bans it
0:47 1993: Europe's rule - four fish families
1:13 2002: Thailand bans every pufferfish
1:24 2003: Vietnam - an order, not a law
1:35 2004-2007: The EU grows, the ban grows
1:54 2010: Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein
2:04 2011-2013: Turkey and Croatia
2:19 2014: The Philippines - 119 poisonings
2:37 2016: China allows farmed fugu
2:51 2017: Switzerland and the Eurasian Union
3:13 2021: Britain keeps the rule after Brexit
3:22 Singapore - only pre-prepared, from Japan
3:33 Malaysia - no pufferfish law
3:45 2026: Turkey's pufferfish bounty
3:58 2026: Three deaths in Masbate
4:14 Japan - legal, with licensed chefs
4:45 South Korea - a cooking licence of its own
4:58 The map today

What counts: red = a nationwide law or regulation in force in October 2026 that bans selling pufferfish as food. Amber = restricted: only from approved sources or farms, or a government order or general food rule with no pufferfish law. Green = legal. Japan and South Korea are green: fugu is legal there, prepared by licensed handlers. The map rates the 195 countries (the 193 UN members plus Palestine and the Vatican); territories are grey. Each European country turns red on the day the European rule first applied to it.

Sources
- Council Directive 91/493/EEC (22 Jul 1991), Art. 5; Regulation (EC) 853/2004 Annex III Sec. VIII Ch. V (EUR-Lex consolidated text, 7 May 2026)
- EFTA EEA-Lex: Regulation 853/2004 in the EEA from 1 May 2010; UK assimilated Regulation 853/2004 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Swiss VLtH (SR 817.022.108) art. 2 lit. l, in force 1 May 2017
- EAEU Technical Regulation TR EAEU 040/2016, point 16(a), in force 1 Sep 2017
- Turkiye: Special Hygiene Rules Regulation (Official Gazette 27 Dec 2011) art. 49; Communique 2026/22 (Official Gazette 23 Sep 2026); Milliyet (23 Sep 2026)
- Thailand: Ministry of Public Health Notification No. 264 (2002)
- Philippines: BFAR Fisheries Administrative Order 249 s. 2014; GMA News (26 Mar 2026); Inquirer (Mar 2026)
- US FDA: FDA-Japan exchange of letters (26 Aug 1988); Import Alert 16-20 (Feb 2025)
- China: The Paper (Feb 2017) on the 1990 health ministry ban and the Sep 2016 farmed-fugu notice
- Vietnam: Government letter 681/CP-VX (23 May 2003); Bao Lam Dong (Oct 2025)
- Singapore Food Agency import conditions; New Straits Times (Jan 2025)
- Japan: Yamaguchi Prefecture tourism (fugu history); Tokyo Metropolitan Government (1949 fugu ordinance); Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare fugu handler standard (2019, amended Mar 2025); Aichi Prefectural Institute of Public Health (Dec 2025)
- South Korea: Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Sep 2025); Ministry of Government Legislation interpretation (2016)
- Map geometry: Natural Earth (public domain)

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