On September 30, 2012, more than 250 people had been treated for food poisoning after they had consumed ‘bento lunches’. The Saitama health officials said that the bento lunch boxes were provided by a Koshigaya based caterer.
Patients were being treated at the Kumagaya Health Centre. Health officials have been calling the incident a mass outbreak of food poisoning. The lunch boxes were prepared by a small catering business known as Nakabayashi and were prepared for a sports day event in Koshigaya. The event was eventually cancelled due to a Typhoon.
Police said that the lunch boxes had been distributed to about 600 people and almost half of those who had consumed the food had later taken ill.
The doctors, who had treated the patients said that the 253 people were aged between 3 and 89 and were admitted to the hospital after they suffered from symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea. An 89 year old woman who suffered from the bento lunch related food poisoning died the following day due to heart failure. Doctors reasoned that food poisoning had not caused the woman’s death. According to our sources, after the food poisoning report, Nakabayashi was banned from trading for three days starting Monday, as a penalty for the incident.
