KANAZAWA – The operator of a barbecue restaurant chain linked to a recent string of fatal food poisonings had instructed its outlets to dispose of all opened packages of raw beef immediately after the first outbreak came to light in late April, the operator said Wednesday.

As a result, no meat from such packages was found when health officials began inspecting a Yakiniku-zakaya Ebisu restaurant in Toyama Prefecture on April 27.

Health officials and police investigators were also unable to find any such meat during subsequent searches of other outlets where similar food poisoning cases later broke out.

Meanwhile, police conducted another raid the same day on Tokyo-based supplier Yamatoya Shoten, which shipped the beef in question, to investigate whether the O-111 virus blamed for the food poisonings originated from meat processing utensils or other equipment there, sources said.

Soon after health officials began inspecting the Toyama outlet, the restaurant’s operator, Foods Forus Co., instructed all its outlets to refrain from selling raw beef dishes and to discard all opened packages of beef round, it said.

A Foods Forus executive said the company “meant no harm” in giving the instruction, as it thought the meat would simply rot if left opened, passing on bacteria to other foods in the eateries.

Four customers died after eating raw beef dishes at the chain, including two boys who ate at outlets in Toyama and Fukui prefectures. A genetic type of the O-111 strain of E. coli bacteria found in the two matched, indicating that the beef may have been contaminated before it was shipped to the restaurant chain.