Poison point: why violations in catering become a relapse
Investigators have opened a criminal case after nine people were poisoned with shawarma in Yakutsk. It's not just the severity of the disease, but also the fact that the poisoning occurred due to shawarma in a stall that was already closed for the same reason for 90 days in January 2026. Unfortunately, unscrupulous entrepreneurs often continue to work even after closing their outlets. Izvestia investigated whether the approach to controlling such outlets needs to be improved.
What happened in Yakutsk
On August 12, nine people aged 7 to 43 were hospitalized in Yakutsk after eating shawarma from the Doner14 kiosk. All have signs of intestinal infection. One of the victims said that he bought five portions of shawarma at a kiosk on August 11, but after eating with his three children, he felt unwell: vomiting and upset stools began. All were hospitalized, they spent about five days in the hospital, and the youngest child was in serious condition. The rest of the victims also bought shawarma on the evening of August 11.
After that, an inspection was carried out at the kiosk and 15 serious violations of sanitary requirements were found. There were no necessary labels and control logs, the products were stored with violations, and some of the employees did not have medical records. The room itself is also in poor condition: dirt and long-standing contamination were found, current and daily cleaning were poorly carried out, and the work surfaces were not treated sufficiently. There were not enough disinfectants.
Laboratory studies have revealed in the products bacteria of the genus Proteus, the E. coli group and Staphylococcus aureus, an increased number of mesophilic aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms. Rospotrebnadzor explained that this indicates faecal contamination of products and non-compliance with sanitary requirements during its manufacture.
As a result, the kiosk was closed by a court decision for 90 days, which was the second such decision regarding this outlet in 2026 — Doner14 was closed for 90 days back in January. In addition, a criminal case has been opened under Part 1 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Provision of services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers").
How does fecal contamination of food occur?
Yulia Malevannaya, General Director of the Research Institute of Functional Nutrition, explained to Izvestia that the detection of bacteria of the E. coli group, the genus Proteus and Staphylococcus aureus are classic markers of gross violations of the sanitary and hygienic regime at work.
— Proteus and E. coli normally live in the intestines of humans and warm-blooded animals. If they are found in finished products, this is a direct indication of a fecal trail," said the source. — The first possible reason (for their appearance. — Ed.) — the human factor: the employee did not wash his hands after going to the toilet, works without gloves or touches the finished filling with dirty hands. The second is the violation of the commodity neighborhood and technology: raw meat came into contact with ready-made sauce or vegetables, and the same cutting boards and knives were used. The third is water: the use of industrial or contaminated water for washing dishes and vegetables.
The presence of staphylococcus aureus signals that there are carriers of infection with pustular skin diseases and chronic nasopharyngeal diseases among the staff. Another option is that the product was kept warm for a long time, which allowed the toxin to accumulate.
She added that in 99% of cases, unfortunately, it is impossible to visually determine that it is dangerous to buy a particular product.
— This is the insidiousness of food poisoning. Bacteria of the E. coli group, proteus or staphylococcus do not change the color of meat, do not give a sharp putrid smell and do not have a specific taste, especially if the product is generously flavored with spices, sauce and garlic. Dangerous shawarma can look absolutely appetizing," Yulia Malevannaya noted.
But it is important to pay attention to the appearance of the point itself. A dirty counter, a salesman who simultaneously takes money and groceries without gloves, the absence of a sink in the visible area, flies in the summer — all this should already scare away the visitor.
Maria Florinskaya, a restaurant consultant and expert in the field of food safety, also noted that a simple guest of an institution can pay attention to the conditions in which the product is prepared: if it is a point of sale in a market where products are without a refrigerator in the heat, and even next to a grill, this raises questions. In addition, it is possible to assess whether water is supplied to the outlet, how hands and food are washed there, and how employees visit the toilet. For example, if instead of a tap with running water there is a bowl in which vegetables are simply rinsed, this is an indicator of the possible presence of various bacteria in the food.
Do violators repeat violations often?
Olga Ogarkova, head of the HACCP Audit company, an expert on food safety, noted that individual cases when an enterprise resumes operations after suspension and again encounters serious violations or poisoning do occur, but it is difficult to judge the entire industry by them.
However, catering is indeed often faced with a repeated set of violations.
— Among the most common is the lack of a functioning HACCP system (international Food Safety management system. — Ed.), violation of the flow of technological processes, insufficient number of rooms, equipment, sinks and washing tubs, violations of storage conditions and commodity proximity, lack of labeling and expiration dates, problems with medical examinations of employees and the maintenance of mandatory journals, she listed.
According to the interlocutor of Izvestia, bona fide enterprises usually correct most of the systemic problems, but they may also have some shortcomings during a second audit. And most often it's just the human factor.
— Therefore, the main task of the food safety system is not to achieve a situation where an error will never occur again, but to make sure that it is detected, corrected in time and not allowed to lead to dangerous consequences, — the expert expressed her opinion. — And for this, it is necessary to train employees and create conditions in which these rules can be physically implemented, appoint responsible persons and constantly monitor processes.
According to Maria Florinskaya, every case of poisoning must be confirmed by medical documents. On the one hand, this is a barrier against so—called consumer terrorism - many complain about catering organizations unreasonably, simply because they were offended for some reason, or want to benefit from it in some way. On the other hand, if a person is really poisoned and refuses to see a doctor, he loses the opportunity to prove that the food in a particular place was the cause of poisoning.
— I have come across situations where people simply refused medical examinations and hospitalization. One day, the family felt unwell for three days, the child had a toilet with blood, but they didn't even call an ambulance," the source told the editorial office. — You need to be examined in order to understand the source of your poor health in general.
How to fix the catering situation
Yulia Malevannaya calls the incident in Yakutsk a blatant case of recidivism, which indicates that the punishment system did not work, and the owner perceived temporary downtime simply as his cost. She drew attention to the fact that after microbial contamination, repeated inspection after opening should not be formal, but strict, with laboratory control of flushes and finished products for several weeks.
Maria Florinskaya noted that in this situation, questions can be asked, including to those inspectors who, after stopping operations for 90 days, allowed this enterprise to reopen without making sure that all violations had been eliminated. If this was not the case, Rospotrebnadzor had all the authority to extend the suspension.
— One of my clients is a bona fide company that had absolutely no such serious problems, but despite this, they had to go through several court sessions to be given the opportunity to reopen. Why didn't this happen in the case of Yakutsk? — the specialist asked.
The expert added that more often problems of a different nature occur: when one enterprise simply closes, and another opens in its place — legally "clean" for Rospotrebnadzor — and continues to work with violations.
However, the main problem of the industry, she is sure, is in law enforcement. In addition, regions may experience a shortage of staff in supervisory authorities, Florinskaya noted.
Olga Ogarkova added that in Russia, state sanitary and epidemiological surveillance is based on a risk-based principle: the higher the potential risk of harm to human life and health, the more intensive the control. In 2024, the risk categories of the facilities were revised. After that, some of the catering companies were assigned to higher categories and got out of the moratorium on routine inspections. Usually, objects that had already had serious or repeated violations were transferred to a higher risk category.
— The government's approach to supervision is gradually changing. Since 2025, the role of preventive control has significantly increased. Mandatory preventive visits have been introduced, which the controlled person can no longer refuse in cases stipulated by law. During such a visit, the inspector can not only clarify the requirements, but also inspect the facility, request documents, and, if necessary, conduct sampling, instrumental examination, testing or expertise," she said.
According to her, the government is basically switching to a model of identifying risks before violations are found. However, it is physically impossible to send a Rospotrebnadzor inspector to every kitchen.
— Therefore, I do not think that the problem can be solved solely by increasing the number of inspections. In my opinion, the control needs to significantly strengthen educational and preventive work," the editorial interlocutor expressed her opinion.
Olga Ogarkova also noted that now teaching sanitary requirements is often perceived by staff as a formality, but this is wrong.
However, a number of experts believe that the risk-based approach can still be improved. Olga Pozdnyakova, an expert from the Popular Front, pointed out that it would be necessary to increase the publicity of the audit results and the personal responsibility of representatives of such businesses. At the same time, she drew attention to the experience of other countries: for example, in the UK, the rating of compliance with hygiene standards is posted on the door of the institution and in open sources. In China, they can not only close an enterprise, but also suspend an official with a revoked license from managing such a business for five years.
"And data on violators in China is included in a nationwide blacklist, to which enhanced supervision, restrictions on state support and a ban on a number of administrative actions are applied," the source told Izvestia.
According to Yulia Malevannaya, for the field of public catering, especially for fast food outlets with raw materials of animal origin, the moratorium on inspections should in principle be lifted, as well as the personal responsibility of the owner should be introduced, and not just a fine on a legal entity.
Izvestia sent inquiries to Rospotrebnadzor and the Department of the Supervisory Service for the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). No responses had been received at the time of publication.
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