Snake Kills Woman and Sickens 140: What Happened?

A grilled eel dish, a popular summer staple in Japan, caused a food poisoning incident at a department store that led to the death of a woman and the illness of more than 140 people, according to the store manager. Shinji Kaneko, the manager of the "Kikyu" store in Yokohama, which is about an hour from Tokyo, apologized after customers who purchased meals containing grilled eel last week experienced vomiting and diarrhea. Kaneko stated, "One of the customers, who turned out to be a woman in her nineties, has died," extending his "sincere condolences." The meals included eel cooked in the traditional "Kabayaki" style, meaning grilled and covered with a mixture of soy sauce and cooking rice wine. Eel, which is consumed worldwide, is especially popular in Asia, and remains found in Japanese gravesites indicate it has been consumed in the archipelago for thousands of years. The "Kikyu" store explained that an investigation by health officials revealed the presence of a type of bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus in the products. The Isesada restaurant located in Tokyo, which operates a counter inside the "Kikyu" store, was responsible for cooking and selling the eel products.