Restaurant fined £11,000 for food poisoning cases

A Cantonese restaurant in Nottingham has been fined almost £11,000 after 11 diners were struck down with food poisoning.

The owners of Ocean City admitted five offences of serving contaminated food and five of maintaining poor hygiene.

Nottingham magistrates heard how city council environmental health officers found a dirty and untidy kitchen where the chef was smoking and using a cloth contaminated with salmonella to wipe food-preparation surfaces.

The investigation followed a complaint by Enid Stevenson, who had fallen ill along with three friends after visiting the restaurant last July. Four other groups had suffered illness after visiting Ocean City.

Brian Tomlinson, managing director of restaurant owner Megastar Services, admitted selling pork contaminated with salmonella.

In mitigation, lawyer Deborah Davies said the company had never before been guilty of a breach in hygiene and had taken steps to remedy thesituation: "The temporary chef who was in charge was summarily fired. The companyhas invested in new training and equipment for the staffand sought advice from the Environmental Health Department to make sure this can't happen again."