Photo/Illutration Japanese restaurant Kiichi, in Kawachinagano, Osaka Prefecture, on June 11 (Rikuri Kuroda)

The owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant in western Japan was arrested with two other people on June 16 for ignoring an order to shut down after a spate of food poisonings, investigative sources said.

Hirokazu Kitano, the manager of high-end restaurant Kiichi, was accused of breaching the Food Sanitation Law for continuing to sell bento lunch boxes that made people sick.

All three were involved in running the traditional restaurant in Kawachinagano, Osaka Prefecture.

The eatery had a one-star listing in the Michelin Guide for the Kansai region in the 2010s.

Kiichi, on its website, advertises itself as a “famed Kyoto kaiseki restaurant that has been continuing for a quarter of a century.”

But on Feb. 15, public health authorities ordered the restaurant to suspend operations for two days until Feb. 16 after several customers who had dined there on Feb. 8 developed diarrhea and stomach pains apparently due to the highly contagious norovirus.

According to investigators, Kitano and the others were arrested for allegedly selling 11 bento boxes on Feb. 16 that were suspected to be contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms, despite the business suspension.

The norovirus was detected in several people who ate the bento boxes.

The restaurant was also ordered to suspend business indefinitely on March 2 after several customers who dined there between Feb. 22 and 24 developed diarrhea and vomiting, symptoms of food poisoning.

According to the prefectural authorities, 80 people fell ill in February with contaminated food served by the restaurant suspected as the cause. All of them have since recovered.

Prefectural police suspect poor hygiene management was behind the food poisoning incidents.

The restaurant posted an apology on its website on March 20 after the suspension order was lifted.

It said: “We take this series of incidents seriously and deeply regret it. We will work to ensure food safety by strengthening and thoroughly implementing our hygiene management system to prevent a recurrence.”

(This article was written by Hiroyuki Kojima and Rikuri Kuroda.)

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