BBC
Torfaen Council responded to reports of customers feeling unwell after eating at the Cwrt Henllys Bar & Restaurant
There have been nineteen confirmed cases of food poisoning after customers who ate a carvery at a pub became unwell.
Torfaen Council investigated reports of customers feeling unwell after eating at the Cwrt Henllys Bar & Restaurant, in Cwmbran, on 5 October.
The council confirmed the cause of food poisoning was Clostridium perfringens, a bacteria which can grow while food cools down. It said there was no wider public risk.
In a statement posted on social media, the pub – which advertises its “famous Sunday carvery” – said it had made “positive changes” since the outbreak.
Following the council’s investigation, it said no further cases had been reported.
At the start of October, it was reported that 52 people were unwell with suspected food poisoning.
According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Clostridium perfringens is a bacteria widespread in animals and the environment.
Its spores can survive cooking and grow during cooling and unrefrigerated storage.
The FSA’s website said: “Outbreaks of C. perfringens food poisoning tend to happen in settings where large groups of people and/or food are being served and where keeping food at safe temperatures may be difficult.
“This also applies to batch cooking at home where you may leave food out to cool longer than you intended while preparing other food.”
The BBC has contacted the Cwrt Henllys Bar & Restaurant for comment, but a statement on social media from the restaurant said it was also pursuing a potential supplier issue due to a number of reported concerns of contaminated turkey but had not received a positive result on that yet.
It said that the restaurant served approximately 200 people on 5 October, including staff, and that it had now changed processes so that there would never be a “cooling down” period.
“We have never been advised to close our kitchen and there has never been a further risk to our public,” it said.
The statement also asked anyone with a positive test result to contact the restaurant to discuss further.