Woman dies and others in hospital after eating roasted eel in Japan – a traditional tonic for the heat

Keikyu Department Store and Isesada apologised over the food poisoning

A young woman walks on the street using a handheld fan in the late of afternoon on July 5, 2024, in Tokyo, Japan (Anadolu via Getty Images)

One person has died and nearly 150 others left ill after eating grilled eel prepared by a restaurant chain and sold at a department store near Tokyo, officials said. Among those sickened, two were taken to hospital.

Keikyu Department Store said 147 customers as of Monday had reported symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea after eating grilled eel dishes sold in the grocery section of the department store based in Yokohama, near Tokyo, between July 24 and July 25.

Japan has a tradition of eating roasted eel as a tonic for the heat during the hottest days of summer.

A woman in her 90s died after developing symptoms, but her exact cause of death is being further investigated, the Yokohama city health center said. Two other people were hospitalized, but the symptoms of others affected were milder, it added.

The only common denominator among the sickened was the grilled eel, sold separately or as part of box lunches served with rice, prepared by the 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 shop, Keikyu officials said.

Shinji Kaneko, second left, President of Keikyu Department Store Co. bows during a press conference in Yokohama

The health center detected staphylococcus aureus — or staph — which causes vomiting and diarrhea, in excrement samples from the affected.

Keikyu Department Store and Isesada apologised over the food poisoning and vowed to cooperate with health officials. Isesada executive Soichiro Tomita, at a televised news conference, acknowledged that some cooks were not wearing plastic gloves.

The health center said it has temporarily suspended operations at the Isesada shop on the grocery floor and its restaurant on another floor of the department store while they examined the cause.

Japan has recently warned of the risk of heatstroke in Tokyo and other parts of the country as hot and humid conditions behind several recent deaths drove some people to use new “cooling shelters” set up around the capital.

Authorities urged people to avoid physical activity as the environment ministry issued top ‘danger’-level alerts, while media said people were left in hospital, with some dying from heatstroke symptoms.