TOKYO, July 30, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Grilled eel, a popular summer delicacy in
Japan, is behind a department store food poisoning incident that has left
more than 140 people sick and one dead, the store's president said.

Shinji Kaneko of Keikyu Department Store in Yokohama -- about an hour from
Tokyo -- apologised after the customers, who last week bought lunch boxes
containing eel, suffered vomiting and diarrhoea.

One of the customers -- reportedly a woman in her 90s -- died, Shinji Kaneko
told reporters on Monday, bowing deeply and offering "our most sincere
condolences".

The products included eel cooked in the traditional "kabayaki" style:
skewered, grilled and basted in a sweet, sticky mixture of soy sauce and
mirin rice wine.

Consumed worldwide, eel is particularly popular in Asia, and remains found in
Japanese tombs show it has been eaten on the archipelago for thousands of
years.

A probe by health officials detected a type of bacteria called staphylococcus
aureus in the products, Keikyu Department Store said.

"We take what happened very seriously and feel deeply sorry about it. We will
fully cooperate with investigations by public health authorities," Kaneko
said.

Tokyo-based restaurant Isesada, which operates a stand inside the Keikyu
department store, was responsible for cooking and directly selling the eel
products.