The owners of a Japanese restaurant in Florida announced the closure of its restaurant after a police investigation into methamphetamine reportedly found soy sauce contaminated with meth, according to WKRG.
Nikko’s Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar in Pace was investigated after seven of its diners were reportedly hospitalized June 10, according to WKRG News. Detectives from Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office reportedly tested two soy sauce bottles and unopened to-go soy sauce packets which reportedly tested positive for methamphetamine.
The Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco also conducted an independent investigation, according to a June 10 statement from the sheriff’s office. The restaurant suspended operations for the period of the investigation and reportedly cooperated with investigators, according to a June 13 statement from the restaurant. (RELATED: Border Officials Seize $38 Million Worth Of Meth Hidden Within Trendy Product)
The investigation reportedly ended as detectives could not “determine who contaminated the food due to a lack of witness observations and surveillance footage,” according to WKRG.
“We just basically ended up with not having enough evidence to make an effective arrest or something that we could for sure stand on. So we closed it basically leads exhausted,” Major Roman Jackson of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office said, per the outlet.
The state’s health department inspected the restaurant and approved its reopening following the end of the investigation, according to WEAR News. However, the restaurant announced Friday July 7 on social media it would be shutting down operations after serving the community for 10 years.
The restaurant attributed its closure to the dwindling of its diners after the investigation, its inability to “sustain the cost to stay open” and “the power of social media.”