ID :
180462
Fri, 05/06/2011 - 17:41
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https://oananews.org//node/180462
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Police launch investigation over fatal food poisoning
TOYAMA/FUKUI, Japan, May 6 Kyodo - Police launched an investigation Friday into a fatal food poisoning case involving an Ishikawa Prefecture-based ''yakiniku'' barbecue restaurant chain, following the deaths of four people who ate raw meat dishes at its outlets.
Investigators from the Toyama and Fukui prefectural police searched the headquarters of Foods Forus Co., the operator of the Yakiniku-zakaya Ebisu restaurant chain, in the city of Kanazawa.
Among the other places searched Friday were the company's restaurants in Toyama and Fukui prefectures as well as Yamatoya Shoten, a Tokyo meat distributor that provided the beef in question to the chain.
The investigators are looking into the incident on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death. The genetic type of the O-111 virus found in two boys who died in Toyama and Fukui prefectures matched, indicating that the beef may have been contaminated before it was shipped to the restaurant chain operator, investigative sources said.
Also Friday, the Toyama prefectural government suspended two of the company's outlets in the prefecture, one in Tonami and the other in Takaoka, where the food poisoning cases occurred, from operating for an indefinite period of time.
The barbecue outlets were routinely serving customers raw beef that had been left unsold the previous day, their operator said, adding that the company had not made it a rule for its restaurants to trim the beef before serving it by removing surface areas that could be contaminated.
Regarding serving the leftover beef, a senior Foods Forus official said, ''It's not that we had any basis (for the practice) on sanitation grounds. It cannot be helped if we are criticized as lacking proper awareness for food safety.''
During an inspection by a local health office in Tokyo late last month, the meat distributor said it does not provide the beef to be consumed raw, and health officials did not detect poisoning-causing bacteria in meat in stock at that time, according to the officials.
In addition to the two boys and two women in Toyama and Fukui prefectures who died, more than 85 people have exhibited food poisoning symptoms since dining at three of the company's outlets in Toyama. A total of more than 35 people have been hospitalized, with more than 20 of them in serious condition, according to authorities.
Hospitalized patients have also been reported among people who dined at the company's outlets in Kanagawa Prefecture, prompting police there to launch a similar investigation.
Following the outbreak of food poisoning involving raw beef dishes, health offices across the country have begun conducting on-the-spot inspections at yakiniku barbeque restaurants, while some eateries have stopped serving the popular dishes.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa said at a news conference Friday that his ministry will consider tightening regulations on food safety.
In the food-poisoning incidents, two 6-year-old boys, a 70-year-old woman and another woman in her 40s have died, and three of them were confirmed to have carried the O-111 virus, which is normally found in the feces of such livestock as cows, goat and sheep.
Investigators from the Toyama and Fukui prefectural police searched the headquarters of Foods Forus Co., the operator of the Yakiniku-zakaya Ebisu restaurant chain, in the city of Kanazawa.
Among the other places searched Friday were the company's restaurants in Toyama and Fukui prefectures as well as Yamatoya Shoten, a Tokyo meat distributor that provided the beef in question to the chain.
The investigators are looking into the incident on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death. The genetic type of the O-111 virus found in two boys who died in Toyama and Fukui prefectures matched, indicating that the beef may have been contaminated before it was shipped to the restaurant chain operator, investigative sources said.
Also Friday, the Toyama prefectural government suspended two of the company's outlets in the prefecture, one in Tonami and the other in Takaoka, where the food poisoning cases occurred, from operating for an indefinite period of time.
The barbecue outlets were routinely serving customers raw beef that had been left unsold the previous day, their operator said, adding that the company had not made it a rule for its restaurants to trim the beef before serving it by removing surface areas that could be contaminated.
Regarding serving the leftover beef, a senior Foods Forus official said, ''It's not that we had any basis (for the practice) on sanitation grounds. It cannot be helped if we are criticized as lacking proper awareness for food safety.''
During an inspection by a local health office in Tokyo late last month, the meat distributor said it does not provide the beef to be consumed raw, and health officials did not detect poisoning-causing bacteria in meat in stock at that time, according to the officials.
In addition to the two boys and two women in Toyama and Fukui prefectures who died, more than 85 people have exhibited food poisoning symptoms since dining at three of the company's outlets in Toyama. A total of more than 35 people have been hospitalized, with more than 20 of them in serious condition, according to authorities.
Hospitalized patients have also been reported among people who dined at the company's outlets in Kanagawa Prefecture, prompting police there to launch a similar investigation.
Following the outbreak of food poisoning involving raw beef dishes, health offices across the country have begun conducting on-the-spot inspections at yakiniku barbeque restaurants, while some eateries have stopped serving the popular dishes.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa said at a news conference Friday that his ministry will consider tightening regulations on food safety.
In the food-poisoning incidents, two 6-year-old boys, a 70-year-old woman and another woman in her 40s have died, and three of them were confirmed to have carried the O-111 virus, which is normally found in the feces of such livestock as cows, goat and sheep.
