'No sabotage' at Blumenthal restaurant

Sabotage has been ruled out as the cause of a health scare which forced TV chef Heston Blumenthal to temporarily close his Michelin-starred restaurant Fat Duck.

The alarm was raised after about 40 customers fell ill after eating at the Bray eatery. However, initial tests at the site have come back negative, prompting a spokesman to suggest that the source of the symptoms is likely to be unrelated to the restaurant.

The spokesman told the BBC: "We are waiting for the final test results to come back but all results so far have been completely negative. It is highly unlikely that someone would be able to sabotage the food.

"[Blumenthal] is well known for his precise, scientific concoctions which would be very hard to sabotage. All this leads us to believe that [the health scare] has not come from the restaurant and we expect to be given the all clear."

Blumenthal said he was baffled by what had happened, adding: "The whole thing is really upsetting and perplexing. We have done so many tests but nothing has shown up."

Experts reportedly believe that a non-specific virus has been going around.