Advice to vendors after festival food poisoning report

An industry body has issued advice to food vendors and festival-goers after dozens of people reported eating from a stall at an Oxfordshire music festival and falling ill.

Posts shared on social media documented dozens of cases connected to the Yorky Roast stall at Truck Festival over the weekend of 24 July.

A spokesperson for the event previously said it had closed down the stall within 90 minutes of being notified of concerns by onsite medical teams.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has now issued advice to firms in a bid to prevent further outbreaks at festivals this summer.

Hannah Ward, a member of the CIEH, said: "Cases such as this highlight the critical importance of maintaining the highest standards of food hygiene and temperature control at festivals and other large-scale events.

"Festival environments can present additional challenges, including hot weather, temporary kitchen facilities, high customer volumes and limited storage and operational space.

"Food operators must ensure they have suitable systems in place to manage these risks and that food safety procedures are rigorously followed throughout the event."

As well as issuing advice to food vendors, Ward - who specialises in festival and mobile catering inspections - also said some responsibility must fall to festival organisers.

"Event organisers have a responsibility to provide timely site facilities to vendors such as water supply, waste, power, and suitable camping facilities," she said.

"The delay of these facilities has a knock-on effect to the food business' safe operation and service delivery."

She also reminded festival-goers to wash their hands regularly with soap and water and sanitise their hands before eating.

It comes after one festival-goer said in a post on social media they had felt "so poorly" and had left the festival early after eating food from the Yorky Roast.

Sharing their experience on the same thread, another said they had "got the worst food poisoning of my life" from the stall and had been forced to go home early.

Following the reports, a spokesperson for Truck Festival said its health and safety team had "launched an immediate investigation and identified a third-party food vendor as the suspected source".

They explained the vendor "was removed from operation within 90 minutes of the first report" and that it had been reported to Vale of White Horse District Council's environmental health team the same day.

The council said it had been made aware of a "potential food poisoning outbreak" at Truck.

"We are investigating the issue and are working with the food business, Truck Festival, UKHSA and the trader's own local registering authority," it added.

The Yorky Roast food vendor is operated by Event Mobile Catering Limited, which is based in Cardiff, and has been contacted for a comment by BBC News.