"The people became very ill having eaten at Palm by H2O."
A Coventry restaurant and its director have been ordered to pay more than £40,000 following a food poisoning outbreak that infected 29 diners with a previously unseen Salmonella strain.
Palm by H2O Limited was fined more than £22,000 after director Mohammed Naveed pleaded guilty to food hygiene offences, Coventry City Council said.
The outbreak was reported in June 2024 after diners developed severe gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at the restaurant.
Victims reported blood in their stools, sickness, fainting and fever, with some hospitalised for further treatment.
Naveed was sentenced at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on November 9 and received two fines totalling £16,686.55.
He was also ordered to pay a £2,000 victim surcharge.
An investigation was launched with the UK Health Security Agency, which analysed 18 stool samples from affected diners.
Seventeen of those samples were infected with the same strain of Salmonella, confirming a common source of infection.
Aside from eating at the restaurant, no other shared factors could explain the infections, the council said.
Environmental health officers later inspected the premises and identified multiple hygiene failings in the kitchen.
These included no evidence of appropriate handwashing, poor handling and storage of raw meat, and inadequate staff training.
Officers also found failures to protect food from contamination during preparation.
Following the findings, Naveed agreed to voluntarily close the restaurant until food safety conditions were improved.
The premises was re-scored during the visit and dropped from a food hygiene rating of five to one.
Palm by H2O later paid for a further inspection and regained a five rating on August 19, 2024, after improvements were maintained.
Officers inspected the restaurant again on January 14, 2025, and confirmed very good conditions remained in place.
Food safety officers said: “Sadly, the food poisoning outbreak has had a profound and long-lasting effect upon many of the individuals who contracted the Salmonella strain and many of them are still suffering now with physical and mental repercussions of their diagnoses.
“The people became very ill having eaten at Palm by H2O.
“Given the absence of measures in place to prevent cross-contamination in the kitchen, and the total lack of food hygiene understanding demonstrated by those working at the restaurant, especially concerning the storage and handling of raw meat, this is unfortunately unsurprising.”
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