London: The vomiting bug which hit British restaurant The Fat Duck, considered one of the world`s best, was probably caused by raw shellfish contaminated by human sewage, an official report has said.
The restaurant in Bray, west of London, which has all three Michelin stars and is known for its unusual dishes, was temporarily closed after 529 diners were struck with vomiting
and diarrhoea in January and February.
"The organism responsible was norovirus," said the Health Protection Agency in its report late yesteray, following an
official investigation.
"The norovirus was probably introduced via shellfish because diners who ate shellfish dishes were more likely to report illness; oysters were served raw; razor clams may not have been appropriately handled or cooked; tracing of the shellfish to source showed evidence for contamination; and outbreaks of illness in other establishments have been associated with oysters from the same source."
Testing of the beds where the oysters were grown in Essex, eastern England, showed they had been infected with norovirus. A likely cause, the report said, was human sewage.
The Fat Duck, run by chef Heston Blumenthal, was named the best restaurant in the world in 2005 by Restaurant magazine and has been in second place since then in their annual poll of international chefs and critics.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 16:59
