Japan Air Lines food poisoning incident
Boeing 747-246B · Mass outbreak of food poisoning caused by Staphylococcus aureus
From Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND) to Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 364
- Survivors
- 364
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 144
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Boeing 747-246B
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 747
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- Unknown
- Operator
- Japan Air Lines
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)To Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 3 February 1975, 144 people fell ill aboard a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 en route from Anchorage, United States, to Copenhagen, Denmark, after consuming an in-flight meal contaminated with Staphylococci.
Incident
The flight originated in Tokyo and was planned to terminate in Paris, with service stops in Anchorage and Copenhagen. In Anchorage, food prepared by a Japan Air Lines subsidiary was loaded onto the aircraft for meal service near the end of the flight.
About one hour after breakfast, while approaching Copenhagen, 143 passengers and one flight attendant fell ill with symptoms including vomiting and abdominal pain. All affected individuals were hospitalized at least overnight in Copenhagen, 30 of whom were reported to media to have required "intensive care", while the remaining passengers continued on to Paris.
As none of the doctors in Denmark spoke Japanese, and only few of the passengers were fluent in Danish or English, Japanese-speaking staff from Copenhagen restaurants were summoned to the hospital to act as translators.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The investigation team in Anchorage was led by United States Public Health Service officer Dr. Mickey S. Eisenberg of the Alaska State Health Department.
Laboratory tests of stool and vomit samples from passengers, as well as 33 samples of leftover ham omelettes, detected Staphylococcus aureus. Elevated concentrations of toxins produced by the staphylococci were also detected in the ham, explaining the extremely short incubation time.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Japan Air Lines food poisoning incident” (revision 1373988438, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Japan Air Lines food poisoning incident
- Revision
- 1373988438 · 2026-09-09 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q63185619
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Japan Air Lines food poisoning incident" (page 60797872, revision 1373988438)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.