Compass investigates

Compass has launched a joint investigation with oil giant Shell into an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning at one of its North Sea oil platform contracts last week.

About 10% of staff, a total of 38 people, were affected by food poisoning on the Safe Supporter - a living quarters platform for the 400 staff who work on the Leman oil platform. Some of those taken ill were confirmed as suffering from salmonella.

"Compass is working in conjunction with Shell and the relevant authorities on tracing the cause of this outbreak of salmonella," a spokeswoman for the company told Caterer. "A very thorough investigation is currently being conducted."

An announcement on the result of the investigation should be made within the next week.

Compass has held the contract for catering and housekeeping services on the Safe Supporter for the past four months. It holds several other contracts on North Sea oil platforms.