A pack of puffer fish pieces with their livers sold at a supermarket in the city of Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture, is seen. (Photo courtesy of the Aichi Prefectural Government)

GAMAGORI, Aichi -- The Aichi Prefectural Government on Jan. 16 inspected a supermarket here that sold packs of puffer fish pieces that also contained their deadly livers, based on the Food Sanitation Act.

A male manager of the "Tatsuya" supermarket in Gamagori said, "We have sold the livers for a long time."

The issue came to the surface when a shopper reported the matter to a local public health center on the afternoon of Jan. 15, saying "A pack of puffer fish I bought seems to contain liver."

According to the prefectural government, five packs of blunthead puffer fish pieces were sold on Jan. 15 and at least three packs of the fish were sold previously this winter. Among them, six packs were retrieved by the prefectural government and the supermarket. The supermarket received reports from two buyers who said they had eaten the puffer fish, but no health damage was reported.