Popular Japanese Beef Bowl Chain Shuts Down After Rat, Bug Found in Food

A popular Japanese restaurant chain has temporarily closed nearly all of its 2,000 stores for cleaning this week after a rat and an insect were found in its food, John Liu reported for CNN.

A rat was found in a bowl of miso soup in late January at an outlet in Tottori, western Japan. I Photo: Choo Yut Sing Flickr

Sukiya, the country’s largest chain serving gyudon (beef bowls), announced the temporary closures following an insect contamination incident at one of its suburban Tokyo locations.

This came just weeks after a rat was found in a bowl of miso soup in late January at an outlet in Tottori, western Japan.

Apologizing for the “great inconvenience and concern caused,” Sukiya stated on Saturday that most of its branches would shut down from March 31 to April 4 to address contamination issues and pest infestations.

In an effort to calm growing public anger over the food safety incidents, Sukiya took to X to offer its “deepest apologies” once again.

“We take this situation seriously and sincerely,” the company said. “We will do our utmost to maintain a safe and clean environment.” Minori Konishi and Yumi Asada also contributed to this report for CNN.