Grilled eel is considered a delicacy in Japan, especially in summer, but now one person has died and more than 140 others have fallen ill after eating this specialty.
Eel sold in a department store in Yokohama was identified as the cause of the rampant food poisoning, according to department store manager Shinji Kaneko. This had been contaminated with a bacterium. "We hereby express our deepest regret."
After eating the eel sold in lunch boxes, countless people suffered from diarrhea and had to vomit. One person - according to media reports, an approximately 90-year-old woman - died.
Eel is particularly popular in Asia. Finds in Japanese tombs prove that it has been eaten on the islands belonging to the country for thousands of years.