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The story
A mass outbreak of food poisoning struck at the Azabu-juban Summer Festival on August 22–23, traced to chilled crab ramen served by “Kappo Komeo.” A Minato Ward investigation found 78 male and female patients and confirmed Salmonella as the cause. The restaurant was hit with a business suspension from September 3 to 9, and on September 5 owner Komeo shaved his head on YouTube to apologize. But then it emerged that Komeo’s other ramen restaurant, “Kani wo,” also had hygiene problems — a September 7 video from Biwako-kun, a YouTuber with 830,000 subscribers, showed a topping spoon being reused, and 5ch erupted with criticism of the restaurant’s management.
The mass food poisoning outbreak stemmed from the “chilled crab ramen” served at a food stall by “Kappo Komeo” during the Azabu-juban Summer Festival on August 22–23. According to a Minato Ward investigation, there were 78 male and female patients. It was confirmed as Salmonella food poisoning caused by the chilled crab ramen, and Kappo Komeo received a seven-day business suspension order (September 3–9) from Minato Ward.
In response to the uproar, Komeo updated his YouTube channel on September 5. He appeared with his head shaved to apologize for the food poisoning incident — but now criticism is mounting over the hygiene management at “Kani wo,” the ramen restaurant where Komeo serves as owner.
The scrutiny of “Kani wo”‘s hygiene management was sparked by a video posted on September 7 by the popular YouTuber “Biwako-kun,” who has 830,000 subscribers. Posting under the title “A Food Poisoning Incident Happened! Going to Eat Komeo’s Crab Ramen,” Biwako-kun said, “There’s a chance I won’t be able to eat here anymore,” and went to check out “Kani wo” right after the scandal broke.
Source: smart-flash.jp / Original article here
What people said
Sounds like kids ended up hospitalized too — this could easily have turned into manslaughter.
If someone had died he'd be getting torn apart mercilessly. This is still the lesser outcome.
This is awful. I mean, forget the spoon — they're probably handling the toppings with bare hands too, aren't they?
Uh, yeah, it absolutely can.
The hygiene sense in this "breaking" scene (term as used in the original post) just isn't what you'd expect from Japanese standards.
Way to talk like Japanese people never cause food poisoning.
This is something touched by random strangers — that's rough. There's definitely someone in that mix who's been fondling their phone all day, or didn't wash up after the bathroom.
He's already catching flak over the Chiikawa movie thing.
But if the guy himself doesn't have the knowledge, no amount of "reviewing" means anything.
They need to bring in an outside expert to overhaul it properly.
I nearly lost it at that part watching the video lol
He's not a kid — an adult shaving his head and apologizing doesn't actually settle this.
He'll probably get arrested, so he'd better brace himself.
Nobody in this scene ever taught them how to properly reflect and apologize, so this is all they know how to do.
Also, they don't want to pay damages.
Apparently it scored 10 out of 100.
"Also, one thing that bothered me was that the noren curtain was way too dirty for a place that just opened. I was worried whether the hygiene standards were okay."
People have been saying "this can't be okay" about the hygiene there ever since it opened — over and over, multiple issues. They've also got way too much random clutter, like cardboard boxes, sitting around the kitchen area.
My 100-year-old grandma always says that back in her day they'd wipe off food that fell on the ground and just eat it — "you can't survive if you fuss over the small stuff" — and she's lived a pretty long life on that philosophy.
Worry about things like this too much and everyone ends up with allergies.
Way off base.
Yeah, you really can't tell without seeing the footage. Even having watched the video first, I was like "wait, what's this write-up on about?"
The theory going around is that someone other than Komeo is registered as the food hygiene manager, which is how they've managed to keep operating without issue.
Made me cringe thinking about everyone touching that switch with unwashed hands.
Background and Key Points of This Story
Salmonella food poisoning is typically caused by undercooked ingredients or secondary contamination via utensils or hands. The “reused spoon” that became a hot topic on the thread is one example of this kind of secondary contamination. The point of debate was how far this kind of lax hygiene management actually translates into real harm, splitting posters between skepticism (“can something this minor really cause food poisoning?”) and pushback (“it absolutely can”). Restaurants are legally required to appoint a food hygiene manager, but who actually held that responsibility here remains speculation on the thread and was not confirmed in the article itself. Some argued that, compared to buffet-style dining, people were “overreacting” — but it’s easy to overlook that a restaurant which just caused a food poisoning outbreak is held to a higher standard of accountability than usual.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geino/Sports News+) thread “Komeo, Who Shaved His Head to Apologize for Food Poisoning, Faces Backlash After ‘Reused Spoon’ Discovered at Separate ‘Kani wo’ Location.”
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