Popular fast-food Japanese chain announces temporary closure due to rat-infested miso soup

A popular fast-food chain in Japan will shut down for several days following reports of rat-infested miso soup.

Sukiya, the country’s biggest beef bowl chain, said it would cease operations Monday at roughly 2,000 locations nationwide for four days starting in a statement posted on their website Saturday. 

The company, which is owned by dining titan Znesho Holdings, publicly apologized last weekend for serving miso soup that contained a rodent at one of its western Japan locations in January. 

By Monday, Zensho shares declined as much as 7%. 

Adding insult to injury, the company confessed Saturday that they’d suffered a second contamination Friday, when a suburban Tokyo store served a dish containing a bug. 

As a result, they announced that all of its 1,965 locations in Japan – except for a small number in shopping malls – would be closed from the morning of March 31 in order to take measures to prevent further infestations. They plan to reopen on the morning of April 4. 

“We take very seriously the fact that this incident has occurred,” Sukiya said. “We deeply apologize to our customers.” 

Sukiya operates around 650 stores across China, Southeast Asia and Latin America. 

With Post wires.