July 31, 2024
SINGAPORE – About 150 people in Japan fell ill and a woman died after eating grilled eel from a popular restaurant in Yokohama, said the Japanese city’s health authorities on July 29.
The food poisoning outbreak was traced to Nihonbashi Unagi Isesada, a popular eel establishment at the Keikyu department store in Yokohama, Japan’s second most populous metropolis.
Operations at the restaurant, which has branches in Tokyo, were suspended on July 29, the Yokohama public health centre said.
Health officials first learnt of two people who presented symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea on the morning of July 25. Checks revealed that multiple groups of people who fell ill had eaten bentos or meals containing eel from the outlet.
Staphylococcus aureus, a type of bacteria commonly found on and transmitted through skin, was detected in the stool of five infected individuals.
At least 147 people, including children younger than 10 and seniors over 90, reported nausea and diarrhoea.
While most cases were described as “mild”, at least two people were hospitalised, and a woman in her nineties who had eaten an eel bento from Isesada died in hospital on July 25.
Health officials said her death had not been causally tied to the food as she also had a chronic condition.
Eel, or unagi in Japanese, is a local delicacy that is popularly eaten on the Midsummer Day of the Ox – it falls on July 24 and Aug 5 in 2024 – to beat the summer heat.
Isesada sold 1,761 portions of unagi bentos and kabayaki – grilled eel dipped in a sweet teriyaki sauce – on July 24 and 25. At least 450 of those portions were found to have wrongly labelled expiry dates and omitted allergen information.
The eatery on July 26 asked customers who purchased unagi meals from its Keikyu basement outlet to refrain from eating them.
Officials from Keikyu and Isesada apologised for the food poisoning outbreak at a joint press conference on July 29, with Keikyu Department Store’s president pledging to uncover how it had happened.
The restaurant, founded in 1946, also found that five staff members did not wear gloves when handling and plating the eel portions.