OSAKA - Members of a family who run a formerly Michelin-starred restaurant in western Japan were arrested on Monday for ignoring an order to temporarily shut down the establishment after a spate of food poisonings, Kyodo News Agency reported.
Hirokazu Kitano, 69, along with his son Hirotoshi Kitano, 41, and his wife Noriko, 68, have all been involved in the operation of the traditional Japanese-style restaurant Kiichi in Kawachinagano, Osaka Prefecture. It is alleged they violated the Food Sanitation Act.
According to the prefectural government and other sources, the restaurant was handed a two-day business suspension order on Feb 15 after 33 customers experienced vomiting and diarrhoea following meals at the restaurant or after consuming "bento" boxed meals sold earlier that month.
Norovirus was detected in some of the people, which a local public health centre determined was linked to food poisoning.
Then, 23 more people who ate at the restaurant between Feb 22 and 24 fell sick and norovirus was again detected, prompting authorities to order the restaurant to close indefinitely from March 2.
Subsequent investigations found that the business had continued to sell bento boxes during the initial suspension order. - BERNAMA-KYODO