Spanish Chef Arrested For Selling ‘Toxic Shellfish’
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MADRID — One of Spain’s leading female chefs has been arrested for allegedly selling toxic shellfish in her restaurant.
Toni Vicente, the owner of the eponymous restaurant in Santiago de Compostela, has been detained along with nine others for allegedly selling produce from a contaminated river.
The arrests followed a two-month police investigation into the alleged illegal fishing and marketing of banned shellfish.
Scallops sold in the restaurant, widely considered one of the best in Galicia, in the north of the country, were allegedly illegally harvested from Ferrol’s busy estuary.
Shellfish from the Ria de Ferrol were banned because they were thought to contain high levels of a toxin that can cause Amnesic shellfish poisoning, which leads to memory loss. Among those detained are six fishermen and several restaurateurs.
They all face four years in prison if found guilty of crimes against public health.
The regional restaurant association assured the public that there had been no recorded poisonings of diners as a result of seafood consumption.
Scallops are included in many of the dishes offered at the Toni Vicente restaurant, which is described in Frommer’s guidebook as “the finest and most flamboyantly international restaurant in Santiago and for miles around.”
