Michelin-starred Chapter One restaurant in Bromley, Kent, has been fined £3,000 for giving 15 customers salmonella poisoning.

Owner RJ Gook was handed the penalty at Bromley magistrates' court on 6 April after pleading guilty to failing to review its food safety systems.

The outbreak happened in August last year when the 120-seat restaurant bought a contaminated batch of Spanish eggs from an unapproved supplier.

Paul Lehane, food safety manager at Bromley Council, said: "The failure to purchase eggs from an approved supplier was serious because the restaurant used lightly-cooked eggs and they were putting customers at risk."

A spokesman for Chapter One, 2004 AA restaurant of the year, said: "It is unfortunate and typical that the one time we have been forced to purchase eggs from an alternative supplier this happens."

The restaurant, whose sister site Chapter Two is in Blackheath, was also ordered to pay £5,344 costs.

In October 2004 the British Egg Industry Council criticised the Government and European Commission for failing to ban Spanish eggs in the UK.

by Tom Bill

Buy this week's Caterer magazine for more industry news and analysis