Bride and groom’s honeymoon ruined as they and over FIFTY wedding guests struck down by salmonella-infected hog roast
A BRIDE and groom were left devastated after they and more than 50 of their wedding guests were struck down with severe food poisoning following their luxury wedding reception.
Phil and Vikki Kemp had to miss out on their dream honeymoon to the Dominican Republic after consuming a salmonella-infected hog roast at their Warwickshire venue.
According to , the newlyweds found themselves ill just days after they wed in October 2017.
They soon discovered that 53 of their guests - including a pregnant mum and eight-year-old girl - were beginning to experience food poisoning symptoms including nausea, diarrhoea and abdominal pains, and one man had even been hospitalised.
This prompted Vikki to contact the environmental health department of Lichfield District Council who proceeded to investigate.
They discovered that the illness had been caused by salmonella in their wedding reception hog roast that hadn't been cooked properly by catering company Galloping Gourmet (Coulsden) Ltd.
Mould in fridges and out-of-date food were just some of the findings made by environmental health inspectors on their premises.
The catering company pleaded guilty to two breaches of health and safety at Cannock Magistrates Court on Friday, and were fined £200,000 and told to pay court costs of £50,000.
“The wedding had been a really fantastic day and everyone had enjoyed it so much but I couldn’t believe it when I started to feel unwell," Phil said in a statement released by solicitors Irwin Mitchell.
"It got to the point where I had to go to a local walk-in centre and after tests I was told I had salmonella – I just couldn’t believe it.
“My illness lasted around ten days all in all, but the symptoms were so bad that we had no option but to cancel our honeymoon to the Dominican Republic.
"I was totally devastated and we never got any money back from the tour operator or insurer in relation to it.
“We did go away eventually, but this was obviously an extra cost on top of everything we had already paid. It was heartbreaking."
Christopher Russell, who was representing Galloping Gourmet (Coulsden) Ltd, said: "The company has no previous convictions and has a five star rating at its other nine sites. Further improvements and safeguards have been made to ensure this never happens again.
"The company would like to apologise for what happened to Mr and Mrs Kemp and their wedding guests."
Kevin Grego, the district judge, added: "This had a devastating affect on Mr and Mrs Kemp on their wedding day. In total 53 guests were affected by salmonella poisoning.
"Records involving the hog roast were not proper, in fact fraudulent. The hog roast should have been heated to over 75 degrees but it wasn't and this caused salmonella to be present."
A spokesperson for Galloping Gourmet told FabulousDigital: “We can’t express how sorry we are for the distress and discomfort this incident caused.
“Food safety is a responsibility we take extremely seriously. Our priority is to serve safe, tasty and well-presented food and drink to our customers, but on this isolated occasion, our food safety procedures were not followed correctly.
“We have investigated the incident thoroughly and made a significant investment in technology to improve our procedures and minimise the possibility for individual human error.
“Since we started out in 1990, we have served well over a million people and we’ve never had a problem like this before. However, we have accepted full responsibility and we are confident that the changes we’ve made will help ensure that this never happens again.”
MOST READ IN FABULOUS
In other wedding news, a bride had a bespoke bouquet made out of chicken nuggets.
We also revealed how a woman has bragged that her boyfriend stole fake flowers from a memorial for her.