Number of food poisoning patients in Japan expected to rise for 1st time in 3 yrs

TOKYO — Japan’s health ministry is calling for caution as the number of food poisoning patients in the country is expected to increase for the first time in three years, with the risk existing even in winter. There has been a spate of food poisoning patients due to the easing of measures against coronavirus infections. Some outbreaks have occurred in groups of several hundred people after eating bento boxed lunches or “nagashi-somen” — noodles carried by water in flumes of bamboo so that diners can pluck them out with their chopsticks to eat. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s food poisoning statistics, the number of patients had been on a downward trend in recent years. This may…