Kebab restaurant owners face trial over fatal salmonella poisoning

A couple who ran a kebab restaurant will face trial on Thursday, more than three years after a 63-year-old man died of salmonella poisoning after eating a kebab. The case is being heard at Klagenfurt Regional Court, ORF reported.

The man died of multiple organ failure in hospital in late June 2023. He had eaten a chicken kebab in the Villach-Land district, made with low-cost meat from Poland.

Salmonella should have been killed during cooking, but experts say the defendants cleaned the work surface with the same cloth before and after frying the meat. Bacteria were allegedly transferred to the kebab while it was being assembled.

Prosecutors accuse the two defendants of negligent homicide and endangering the public, along with offences under food safety and consumer protection law. They face a potential prison sentence of up to two years. The defendants are presumed innocent.

The case was delayed for legal reasons. In 2024, the Graz Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office called for further investigations, after which Villach District Court declared itself not competent to hear the case. Prosecutors filed charges at the regional court in late 2025. A change of defence lawyer caused further delays.