A pub-owning couple has been fined £4,999 each after a wedding party of 80 guests - made up of serving police officers - fell ill with norovirus. The happy couple and dozens of their guests became unwell after eating food at a wedding reception at the Globe Inn in Frogmore, South Hams. Inspectors found not only a dirty towel and cleaning sponge, but also a suspect vegetarian lasagne and a fish pie 'unfit for human consumption'. An inspection of the kitchen by South Hams District Council's environmental health department. found unacceptable levels of bacteria on a towel used for hand drying and a pot sponge. John Horsley, 64, and his wife Lynda, 63, owners of the Globe Inn, each admitted three charges of breaching food hygiene laws when they appeared before magistrates in Torquay. They were each fined £4,999. The court was told the pair were both 'upstanding members of the community' who had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds improving the pub, which is a favourite with summer visitors. But they failed to have a proper system in place to check hygiene standards were being upheld, failed to keep premises clean, and failed to comply with food safety requirements. Prosecutor Graham Gover told the court: "There was a report of an outbreak of food poisoning at the hotel, which had been taken over by a couple celebrating their marriage, and was available for guests." Shortly afterwards, inspectors visited the property and found unacceptable levels of harmful bacteria in the kitchen. Mr Gover did not link the state of the kitchen and bacteria found to the outbreak of sickness at the wedding. However, the Horsleys were still in breach of hygiene laws. Mitigating, Ashley Harold said the couple had informed the council as soon as they could after the incident which had prompted 'sickness and diarrhoea' in guests. She said the couple were 'absolutely devastated' by what had happened. Since the inspection, deep cleaning has been undertaken and is now done on a routine basis. The food areas have been redesigned, all staff have been retrained and better food safety management systems are now in place. Following the hearing, Cllr Simon Wright, South Hams District Council's executive member with responsibility for environmental health, said: "We are always happy to work with businesses to ensure that public health is protected. However, where conditions are consistently poor, we will take any necessary action to protect the public. "If any businesses have concerns about any food hygiene on their premises they should always contact the council for appropriate advice." Fleur Barr, environmental health officer for South Hams District Council, said: "Our approach to enforcing food law is normally to provide advice and guidance in the first instance to give businesses an opportunity to meet the standards expected. In this case, the proprietors were already aware of their obligations and, when the premises were inspected, they had failed to meet them on that occasion. We do not take prosecution lightly."
