Salmonella at Llanwenarth Arms Hotel

The Llanwenarth Arms Hotel in Abergavenny was fined £40,000 on 24 March for supplying food linked to an outbreak of salmonella. Richard Wallace and John West, co-directors of the Llanwenarth Arms Hotel and Restaurant Ltd, Brecon Road, Abergavenny, pleaded guilty on behalf of the hotel last week (March 17) to 17 counts of breaching food safety guidelines by selling a quantity of food, kiwi parfait, which was deemed unsafe and considered injurious to health due to contamination of salmonella bacteria.

The pair also pleaded guilty on behalf of the hotel to seven counts of supplying a quantity of food deemed unsafe and unfit for human consumption due to the contamination of salmonella bacteria. The charges relate to a period of time between April 5 and 13, 2008. Abergavenny Magistrates' Court heard an investigation was started after Monmouthshire Council received complaints from members of the public who became ill after eating at the hotel's restaurant Symptoms included a high temperature, nausea, muscle aches, diarrhoea, hallucinations and stomach cramps.

Seventeen people, including two children, tested positive for salmonella, with some symptoms lasting for up to three weeks or more. Lab tests carried out by the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS) revealed a kiwi parfait dessert served at the hotel's restaurant tested positive for a "high" level of salmonella bacteria containing 38,000 coli units per gram.

In addition to the fine the hotel was also ordered to pay £5,500 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Salmonella is a bacterial infection. Most people that are infected with Salmonella develop diarrhoea, fever, vomiting, and abdominal cramps between 6 and 72 hours after infection. In most cases, the illness usually lasts 3 to 7 days and most affected persons recover without treatment.

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