TOKYO (AP) – One person died and nearly 150 others became ill after eating grilled eel prepared by a restaurant chain and sold at a department store near Tokyo, officials said. Two of the sickened people had to be hospitalized.
Keikyu department store said that as of Monday, 147 customers had reported symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea after eating grilled eel dishes sold in the food section of the department store based in Yokohama, near Tokyo, between July 24 and 25.
In Japan, there is a tradition of eating roasted eel on the hottest summer days as a tonic against the heat.
A woman in her 90s died after developing symptoms, but her exact cause of death remains under investigation, the Yokohama city health center said. Two other people were hospitalized, but other sufferers’ symptoms were milder, it said.
The only common denominator among those who fell ill was grilled eel, sold individually or as part of lunch packages with rice, prepared by Tokyo-based restaurant chain Nihonbashi Isesada and sold at the department store, the health center said. More than 1,700 servings of grilled eel were sold at the store, Keikyu officials said.
The health center discovered Staphylococcus aureus – or staphylococci – in stool samples from those affected, which causes vomiting and diarrhea.
Keikyu Department Store and Isesada apologized for the food poisoning and promised to cooperate with health authorities. Isesada CEO Soichiro Tomita acknowledged at a televised press conference that some chefs did not wear plastic gloves.
The health center said operations at the Isesada store in the grocery section and the restaurant on another floor of the department store had been temporarily suspended while the cause was being investigated.
Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press
