national

3-year-old girl dies of E. coli infection

29 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

29 Comments
Login to comment

Do you see what you did? You used the toilet and decided not to wash your hands because you were in a hurry, or just plain lazy. Now a little girl is dead.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

Focus is on usage & cleaning of the tongs, Not all affected at salad.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Must be awful. Usually safe to eat freshly cooked foods, but e-coli can survive cooking if the temperatures aren't high enough.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Local health authorities inspected the food processing plant that produced the potato salad but no traces of the bacteria were found.

Maybe not the potato salad but something they used was obviously making people sick. I won't cross out the proper hygiene and those kitchen utensils that are not sanitized. Poor little girl.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Food test were clean, no contamination there.

They now suspect customers carried O-157 and tongs were shared between produce and insufficient cleaning at the stores?

We can all be carriers hence I use different boards and knifes for fish, meat and veggies.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

i didn't see this headlined on the news, if the food was imported I am SURE it would have been the top headline

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Such infections happen quite frequently in Japan. No wonder if you see how people wash the hands! Just 2 fingers under water in the best case. Easy to observe it in public toilets. If hand dryers or paper would be available everywhere the situation would improve.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Original story was weeks ago, they suspected potato salad that was mixed with Apple or ham at the store.

But some affected parties didn't eat those but bought fried foods at the stores.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I feel for the family here.

Do you see what you did? You used the toilet and decided not to wash your hands because you were in a hurry, or just plain lazy. Now a little girl is dead.

Yes! I see people do this often (one guy I work does it every time!). It irks me to no end!

Usually safe to eat freshly cooked foods, but e-coli can survive cooking if the temperatures aren't high enough.

I often have strange comments directed at me when I cook my yakiniku really (REALLY) well done. But I like the taste, and I theorize that it helps to kill contaminants. It's worked so far.

The culture of eating everything raw or half cooked, and communally, will inevitably lead to outbreaks of dangerous bacteria from time to time. I like my sashimi/nigiri, too, but limit it to just tuna and salmon. Still some risk there of course.

It's normal for kids of any age to just eat what they are given. It's kind of forced upon them. As good as the Japanese diet is; kids are not able to form their own opinions when it comes to food.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Recall a food poisoning outbreak attached to a school last year, 2-3 months later it was traced to spinach from one farmer.

By that time it was minor news.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Pretty sad.... RIP little girl

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I hope the scumbag responsible for this is tracked down and charged with manslaughter

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

A person or persons with dirty, unwashed hands handled the food. It isn't rocket science. Staff or customers, either way their laziness and the unhygienic self service food outlets killed that child.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Bit harsh but agree? Recall a feature on gusto and their 180 page booklet that all staff need to follow. Cleaning, hand washing with daily tests, etc.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I wouldn't be surprised if it was due to contamination caused by unwashed hands. I see women walk out of cubicles in public restrooms and do their make up and preen themselves in the mirror BEFORE washing their hands. And if they do wash their hands, its often just a quick sprinkle without soap, followed by some more preening.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@ paint - I don't doubt that at all, since many farmers still use "night soil" to fertilize their crops. I have seen the sewage trucks dumping myself

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@ pacint - sorry it auto corrected

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Dango.

It is all over the news, ditto for the original incident. Right now all news here report it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

You used the toilet and decided not to wash your hands because you were in a hurry, or just plain lazy. Now a little girl is dead.

Let's get a grip, shall we? Unless there was a story specifically citing this as the cause, you are jumping to a completely unwarranted conclusion. In most e-coli cases, vegetables become contaminated before they are even harvested. It's quite easy for animal fecal matter to get into crops, either via fertilizer or just via local pests.

To find the source, there is a long trail to follow, with the restaurant at the very end.

I hope the scumbag responsible for this is tracked down and charged with manslaughter

I know it's more fun to always have someone to blame and imprison for life's misfortunes. But sometimes it's just bad luck. No need for a witch hunt.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Horrible thing, to lose a loved one (or anyone) like that, and all because of laziness.

Sensei: "Do you see what you did? You used the toilet and decided not to wash your hands because you were in a hurry, or just plain lazy."

Yes! Just today while I was in the washroom at the office I saw three old guys use the urinals (I had to wait behind them). One peed all over the floor, and regardless that the other two managed to get it inside the urinal not one of them washed their hands. What were they doing? Two are in the "social dance" circle on another floor (glad I'm not their partner!) and the third a calligraphy class in a room a room rented for activities.

Point is, not washing hands after using the washroom is far too prevalent, with some people thinking a simple pretend rinse of water is enough, if that. Generally a pretty clean country on the surface, but too much hygiene is lip-service, and often places are only inspected after mass food poisonings, as with here. Someone definitely spread it via their hands and not washing properly.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Too many people having shockingly bad personal hygiene and disgusting filthy habits. Therefore members of the public should not be allowed anywhere near food or touch utensils in stores. It is asking for trouble... It only takes one dirty person to infect many others...

So sad to the little girl died (

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It may not have been during the preparation of the food itself, but as suggested by the Health Dept., spread during the sharing of tongs, which does always concern me. Also, food is out in the open without covers in some supermarkets, and can be reached by little children, or parts of clothing could accidentally touch them and contaminate them. I think everything should be covered and not left out in the open air, and tongs should not be handled more than once. The handle that has been handled by multiple people (who may have colds, herpes, the flu, unwashed hands after using the bathroom, etc.) can fall onto the food accidentally. I've seen this at ORIJIN BENTO and always worry about E.Coli and other contaminants.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Eating in a public place should never be a life threatening ordeal. However bacteria does not still. I feel a more stringent investigation is in order. It may be a newer more powerful strain of germ has evolved.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Agree, Origin and other Deli Veneto places are scary.

On TV they interviewed one place who said tongs are dedicated and washed every 2 hrs.

Wtf, 2 hrs over the lunch-rush and I doubt that washing them exceeds 75 degrees ergo useless to prevent e-coli.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

customers shared serving tools such as tongs.

Yup! That's why I just use my hands at the salad bar and wipe them off afterward. Tongs are nasty business!

Seriously tho, shared items such as tongs need to be changed often with cleaned ones, because, as others have pointed out, many people haven't discovered soap - or even water.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Using your hands is even more disgusting does that include salads, etc where spoons are needed.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@pacint - reread the part where I said "seriously tho" :D

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites