Dozens of Muscovites, some of them now in serious condition, ended up in the hospital with acute poisoning. Most ordered lobio and salads from the operator “Kitchen on the Area”. When the cooks came to check, they tried to hide and destroy the food.

Searches in the “Kitchen on the District”

Investigators and an inspector raided the capital's companies “LocalKitchen” (brand “Kitchen in the area”), “Gastroport” (small food production) and “Extra-2024” (supplier of canned food for the production of dishes). It was these enterprises that fed Muscovites tuna salad and lobio, which may have contained harmful botulism pathogens. Once they enter the body, the nervous system is affected, muscle paralysis occurs, and it becomes impossible to breathe. If timely medical care is not provided, the mortality rate is 65%.

The peak of poisonings occurred on Friday and Saturday. According to various sources, 41 people were taken to the infectious diseases hospital, some are in serious condition. All victims ordered the same salads through the delivery service.

The Moscow division of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) (provision of services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers). All necessary examinations will be carried out. In the meantime, Rospotrebnadzor has suspended the distribution of products.

“Kitchen on the District” reacted with lightning speed and was even more cautious than the supervisory authorities required.

— It became known about an incident with a potential risk for our Lobio salad, the recipe for which used canned beans from one of our suppliers. They have already removed the dish from sale and have begun checking the entire supply chain and production. Temporarily stopped the operation of the application in order to additionally check all products, even those that do not cause concern –commented at LocalKitchen.

The same salad with tuna, beans and apple

Who owns and operates Kitchen on the Neighborhood?

At the beginning of the year, Rospotrebnadzor carefully checked “Kitchen in the District” and found no violations. In 2017, this brand was launched by the founders of Rocketbank. The main features were the format of home-cooked food and the ability to order specially selected products to prepare your own meals. The startup turned out to be successful, and soon a large financial group bought a controlling stake in it. The original owners of Kitchen on the District still have just over 15% of the shares.

The company's revenues fluctuate around 3 billion rubles. But there has never been a profit; on the contrary, losses of up to minus 1.3 billion rubles are recorded from year to year.

One of the minority shareholders – Anton Lozin – is also the project manager. He is a Muscovite with a higher education from the prestigious Financial Academy. He worked as a concierge manager, then went into business. All his ideas are related to food delivery. At some point, he found partners among the top managers of Rocketbank.

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