Café owner sickened 47 police with staph sandwiches must wear electronic tag

In July, 2009, West Midlands Police were dispatched to control demonstrations between the English Defence League and anti-fascism groups in Birmingham, U.K. The coppers ordered more than 100 lunches from Morris’s Meal Machine cafe, in Nechells, Birmingham. Fourty-seven were sickened by contaminated chicken and tuna sandwiches. One officer said, “I thought my life was coming to an end.”

A couple of weeks later, Birmingham City Council’s environmental health department closed the café following checks into processes and procedures, which unvocered failures in “food handling, cross contamination, temperature control and general cleanliness.”

The Daily Mail reports the packed lunches were provided by former cafe owner Muriel Morris, 70, who admitted four charges of breaching food hygiene regulations at Birmingham Magistrates Court on Monday.

She was tagged and ordered to obey an overnight curfew after District Judge Robert Zara accepted she could not pay a large fine.

He also imposed a four-month suspended sentence on her.

She has since sold the business, the court heard.

The court was told some of the officers were left mentally scarred and even feared they would die because of the staphylococcus aureus infection.

Others passed out and required oxygen as they were taken to hospital by ambulance and another said he lost eight pounds in weight and suffered symptoms for a week.