Tag Archives: Japan

Third person dies from E. coli O111 in Japan

Posted on by
Reply

Serving raw meat remains a bad idea as a woman in Japan died Wednesday of food poisoning linked to a raw meat dish at a restaurant chain in central Japan.

The woman had eaten yukhoe, similar to tartare, at the same restaurant in Tonami, Toyama prefecture, where a 6-year-old boy had fallen ill and died Friday after eating the same dish, Jiji Press reported. The restaurant is run by Foods Forus Co, based in nearby Kanazawa.

Another boy died a week ago in Fukui prefecture after eating the same dish at another of the company’s restaurants. Both boys were infected with E coli O111 strain.

Jiji reported Tuesday that 56 other people were confirmed to be suffering from food poisoning after eating the same dish at four of the company’s restaurants.

The company said at a news conference that it had failed for the last two years to conduct hygiene inspections of raw meat supplied for the dish by a Tokyo-based wholesaler.
 

Two children dead, 56 ill in Japan from E. coli O111 in raw meat

Posted on by
Reply

In Jan. 1995, a four-year-old girl died in Australia from E. coli O111 after eating contaminated mettwurst, an uncooked, semi-dry fermented sausage; 173 others were sickened.

The company, Garibaldi, blamed a slaughterhouse for providing the contaminated product, while the State’s chief meat hygiene officer insisted that meat inspections and slaughtering techniques in Australian abattoirs were "top class and only getting better." By Feb. 6, 1995, Garibaldi Smallgoods declared bankruptcy. Sales of smallgoods like mettwurst were down anywhere from 50 to 100 per cent according to the National Smallgoods Council.

The outbreak of E. coli O111 and the reverberations fundamentally changed the public discussion of foodborne illness in Australia, much as similar outbreaks of VTEC or shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) in Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. subsequently altered public perception, regulatory efforts and industry pronouncements in those countries.

Yet almost two decades later, history is still being relived.

Japanese media outlets are reporting that two children have died and 56 other people became ill from food poisoning linked to a raw meat dish at a restaurant in central Japan.

One boy died on Wednesday in Fukui Prefecture and the other boy on Friday in Toyama Prefecture after eating dish called Yukhoe served at restaurants run by Foods Forus Co in Kanazawa. The two were infected with E coli O-111 strain.

Yukhoe refers to a variety of hoe (raw dishes in Korean cuisine), which are usually made from raw ground beef seasoned with various spices or sauces. It is basically a Korean steak tartare.

Raw meat is a bad idea.

The company conceded at a news conference that it had failed to carry out hygiene inspections for the last two years of raw meat supplied by a Tokyo-based wholesaler for the dish.

Foods Forus said that it knew its Tokyo-based wholesaler had not sold the beef concerned to be eaten raw, but it served it raw based on its own judgment.

The wholesaler said it was impossible to comment because the person in charge of the sale was absent, Jiji said.

The Japanese apparently have some high-tech bacterial vision goggles that weren’t used in this case.

E. coli O111 has shown up in several tragic outbreaks, including the illness of 314 people and one death in Oklahoma in 2008, the sickening of 212 people in New York in 2004 linked to unpasteurized apple cider, and in salad that sickened 56 in Texas in 1999.
 

Salmonella in broccoli salad sickens 1500 Japanese students

Posted on by
1

Broccoli salads provided for school lunches were the cause of massive food poisonings that occurred earlier this month at nine elementary and junior high schools in the city of Iwamizawa, the Hokkaido Prefectural Government said Wednesday.

An investigation has found that broccoli salads cooked at the city’s joint school meal cooking center for lunches on Feb. 9 were contaminated with salmonella and the same genotype of bacteria was confirmed in the stool of those who suffered the food poisoning.

More than 1,500 students had exhibited food poisoning symptoms by Tuesday but all are now recovering, according to the city’s board of education.

Japan salmonella poisoning toll tops 1,000; school lunch suspected

Posted on by
Reply

More than 1,000 students and teachers in northern Japan have been sickened by food poisoning — and school lunch is being blamed.

Officials say more than 800 students at nine schools in Iwamizawa City have missed classes after developing diarrhea, vomiting and fever. Some schools will be closed until Sunday. The sickness tally rose to 1,048 on Tuesday.

City official Naomi Kurata says doctors suspect school lunches were contaminated with salmonella after detecting the bacteria in many of the patients.

Health officials are investigating lunch samples from last week and how they were stored. Kurata says a likely culprit is Thursday’s meal — turnip with ground chicken, soybean soup with sliced potatoes, green salad, rice and milk.
 

840 students suffer food poisoning in Japan

Posted on by
1

Japan Today reports that 840 elementary and junior high school students have missed class in Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, due to food poisoning after eating school lunch last week.

Health authorities suspect salmonella infection but have yet to determine what made them sick, they said.

The students started exhibiting the symptoms on Friday after eating lunch the previous day which was cooked in the school kitchens for some 3,100 students.

The lunch included potato miso soup, komatsuna leaf salad and Japanese radish with ground meat, the officials said.

Operation Flying Turtle nabs two Japanese allegedly smuggling 55 live turtles into LAX in snack food boxes

Posted on by
Reply

The L.A. Times reports that federal officials arrested two Japanese men for allegedly smuggling 55 live turtles into LAX in snack food boxes.

Atsushi Yamagami, 39, and Norihide Ushirozako, 49, were arrested Friday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after an undercover sting operation, according to a statement by the U.S. attorney’s office.

Authorities said they infiltrated the ring over the last few months in an investigation known as "Operation Flying Turtle."

Prosecutors said the charges carry a maximum possible federal prison sentence of 20 years.

"In August 2010, Hiroki Uetsuki, an associate of Yamagami and Ushirozako, traveled from Osaka, Japan, and arrived at Honolulu International Airport," where turtles were discovered in his suitcase, prosecutors said.

"After U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents arrested Uetsuki, he informed the agents that Yamagami paid him approximately 100,000 yen (approximately $1,200) and his travel expenses to smuggle turtles and tortoises into the United States," officials said.

Doggie dining Japan-style

Posted on by
Reply

As more towns in Florida embrace legalized doggie dining, Japan is grappling with a lack of registration and poor sanitation.

The Japanese version is not-so-much about owners bringing their pooches to dinner, it’s for career-minded 30-somethings who are too busy to care for a pet to have 30 minutes of animal interaction.

The Daily Yomiuri Online reports the trend began with so-called cat cafes, and there are now more than 120 establishments nationwide where people can enjoy the healing effects of being surrounded by animals such as dogs, birds, goats and rabbits.

However, some shops have not registered as required with local governments, and experts are warning them to be aware that some diseases can be transmitted from animals to people.

According to Norimasa Hanada, 39, who opened a cat cafe ahead of the boom in 2005 in Machida, western Tokyo, and runs a Web site "Zenkoku Neko Cafe Map," there are at least 120 cat cafes nationwide. Newer shops featuring dogs, goats and birds also have have opened recently, he said.

Besides offering cats to pet, some cafes have begun activities to help protect the animals. Ekoneko, a cat cafe that opened in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward in October, works with Little Cats, a nonprofit organization based in Kofu that works to find homes for stray cats.

According to the Tokyo metropolitan government’s animal care counseling center, animal cafes at which customers pay admission fees fall under the category of "exhibition" facilities, and are regulated by the Animal Protection Law like zoos and aquariums.

For this reason, such shops are required to register with prefectural governments as businesses that deal with animals and employ a regular staff member possessing an animal health technician license or other such qualification.

A cafe in Nerima Ward, which charges 200 yen per 30 minutes on top of a drink fee, touts on its Web site that customers can play with animals at the shop.

"I didn’t even know about the registration requirement. I don’t have time to obtain the qualification," the cafe’s female owner said.

A female manager of a cafe in Tokyo, who was patting an animal’s head over a fence, said: "We haven’t registered as we just keep the animals outside the cafe. These animals are not exhibited inside the premises."

She said the center staff who visited her cafe to confirm the situation had judged it was unnecessary for the establishment to register as it did not charge a separate fee to exhibit the animals.

Tweeting for toilet paper, handwashing in urinals

Posted on by
1

As I’ve said before, when Chapman got his first Blackberry he was so proud he sent me an e-mail from the crapper.

“Dude, I’m on the toilet, and I’m e-mailing you,” or something like that.

Last week, the apparently popular Tokyo DJ, Naika_tei, who also apparently doesn’t know to check for toilet paper before laying logs in a public bathroom, discovered the TP shortage after completing his business. The tei played it cool in the electronics store and sent out this tweet:

"[Urgently needed] toilet paper in the 3rd floor toilet of Akiba Yodobashi."

Five minutes later, he sent another desperate tweet.

After 18 minutes, he tweeted again:

"The toilet paper arrived safely! Thank you very much!"

No amount of tweeting would help the fellow in the video, below. According to one of my language correspondents, the folks in this clip are speaking Dutch, and the dude tried to wash his hands in the Pissoir — the portajohns were apparently there for the women. When she asks: For the record: is that the pissoir? The guy in the red shirt says: yes, a pissoir.

The blond with the microphone says she is speechless.

At least when I was a kid and went to Maple Leaf Gardens when Toronto had a winning hockey team (yes, I am that old) the communal urinal trough was level with the floor, not at handwashing height.

11 sick in Japan with E. coli O157; steakhouse chain closes all 187 outlets

Posted on by
Reply

Pepper Food Service Co said Monday it has closed all of its 187 Pepper Lunch steakhouses in Japan the same day after at least 11 customers developed food poisoning to clean each outlet and ensure hygiene controls are in place.

At least 11 customers have been stricken with E. coli O157 in seven prefectures including Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, according to the restaurant chain operator and local governments.

Kunio Ichinose, the company president, apologized, saying,

‘‘We will reopen the restaurants as soon as we are fully prepared to do so.’’