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Suspected food poisoning at Jamie Oliver's chain of Italian restaurants

By Nick Mcdermott for MailOnline
Updated: 04:20 EST, 10 May 2011

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He has campaigned to raise standards in kitchens across Britain.

But perhaps Jamie Oliver’s next culinary crusade will be a little closer to home after suspected cases of food poisoning at his chain of restaurants.

Branches of the Jamie’s Italians have been taken to task by food inspectors over a series of other failings too.

Rich pickings: Jamie Oliver with staff at Jamie's Italian in Bath, which was not criticised

At one restaurant, they recommended that a dish be taken off the menu – and warned of a possible ‘viral outbreak’ at another.

Spot checks uncovered a catalogue of other failings at other Jamie’s Italians, including out-of-date meat served to staff, customers exposed to E.coli bacteria and ‘filthy’ equipment.

Management at one restaurant were even threatened with legal action unless they stopped serving undercooked burgers to customers.

There are 17 branches in the chain, which is popular with families seeking simple, reasonably-priced Italian food.

Under fire: Jamie Oliver's restaurants have been criticised over hygiene

The celebrity chef’s expanding business, alongside his recent book releases and Sainsbury’s advertising deal, helped propel him to 679th in the Sunday Times Rich List, with a personal fortune of £106million.

The 35-year-old is well known for his healthy eating campaigns – and his efforts to banish Turkey Twizzlers from school canteens.

His website, where he posts recipes and writes about food issues including tips on good kitchen hygiene, is visited by thousands each week.

The food safety failings were uncovered during spot-checks at 11 restaurants between November 2009 and November last year, and were released following a Freedom of Information request.

In one report, two customers at the Reading branch complained of being struck down with the potentially fatal norovirus, after eating a shellfish dish.

Inspectors raised concern about a ‘filthy’ can-opener blade, before writing: ‘The linguine alle vongole has generated two food poisoning complaints. We recommend that this is taken off the menu or that you warn customers that you cannot guarantee that clams are norovirus free.’

Inspectors were also worried about a possible ‘viral outbreak’ at the Cambridge restaurant and criticised cleanliness at the site, describing washing-up facilities as ‘heavily contaminated with grease’.

Senior environmental health officer Rebecca Broadbelt said: ‘Recently there have been numerous staff unwell and we have received several suspected food poisoning cases.’

At the flagship restaurant in Canary Wharf, inspectors discovered out-of-date meat was being served in staff meals.

The Guildford branch was criticised after its approach on preparing meat ‘exposed customers’ to E.coli. ‘Your current cooking practice may not be adequate to effectively destroy harmful bacteria that may be found within the raw mince meat,’ inspectors said in their report. At Jamie’s Italian in Leeds, legal action was threatened unless burgers were cooked more thoroughly.

Findings: Out-of-date food was served to staff at Jamie Oliver's restaurant in Canary Wharf, London

The inspector wrote: ‘I am yet to be convinced that your burger policy is likely to produce a safe burger each time. Any contraventions which exist at the next inspection may result in legal action.’

Inspectors also warned that the kitchen in Leeds could attract pests and food was at risk of being ‘contaminated by dirt’.

Meanwhile, a health inspector in Glasgow found ingredients for dishes were stored on the floor. A spokesman for Jamie Oliver said any health safety failings had only been minor and rectified quickly, while no cases of food poisoning had been proven.

‘All of the Jamie’s Italian restaurants have received top health safety ratings since opening and any problems identified by inspectors have been addressed and corrected immediately. We have never received an improvement notice from environmental health inspectors, only ever recommendations.

‘Most of the issues date back over a year and have been dealt with swiftly. Jamie’s Italian also employs two full-time in-house food safety specialists to ensure the highest standards.’ Although Oliver has campaigned to improve school food, his bid to get U.S. families to change their eating habits has not fared so well. His award-winning series Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolutions was temporarily axed in the U.S. due to poor ratings.

■ There is a Jamie’s Italian in: Bath, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Glasgow, Guildford, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham, Oxford and Reading. The London branches are at Canary Wharf, Covent Garden, Kingston-upon-Thames, and at the Westfield shopping centre, near Shepherd’s Bush.