Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant fat Duck is said to have been hit by the vomiting bug Norovirus.

The restaurant was closed recently as many diners came down with what looked like food poisoning after eating there, but after a thorough investigation The Health Protection Agency have said that the outbreak was caused by staff at the restaurant continuing to work whilst suffering from Norovirus.

A HPA statement read: “The in-depth investigation into what has caused 529 people to date to report being ill after eating at the restaurant is continuing and so far, the HPA has detected norovirus infection in six staff and eight diners and weaknesses in how staff sickness was identified and dealt with. Based on staff interviews, sickness records and samples taken, it is clear that staff worked while still infectious with norovirus.”

Heston has said the cause of the outbreak was categorically not food poisoning. He stated: “The only thing that has come up is that three staff and five customers have been tested positive for something called norovirus.”

He told Australia’s Hospitality Magazine support for the restaurant had been “incredible”.

Defending his restaurant’s reputation, he said: “For the last five years we’ve been sending food off every month for sampling and I don’t know any other restaurant in the country that does that. We also have a company that has been looking after all our health and safety stuff for the last five years.”