Food outlets found to be flouting the law will face the full weight of legal powers Bradford Council has warned.

The message comes as a new report revealed the local authority’s Food Safety Team prosecuted 18 food outlets and issued a further 75 warning notices in 12 months.

In the last financial year, four premises chose to close voluntarily, one was given an emergency prohibition order and on one occasion officers were forced to seize unsafe food.

The environmental health team in Bradford dealt with 831 reports of contagious disease during the year, including 673 cases of food poisoning – 96 of which were caused by salmonella bacteria, 107 cases of gastroenteritis and 35 cases of dysentery.

In one study, conducted with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to test the quality of imported fresh herbs, a sample of mint failed a test for E. coli as it was contained an organism associated with fecal matter.

“The Council works hard to ensure that members of the public are not put at risk when eating out, and that food businesses in the district operate with the highest standards of hygiene.

“We provide lots of advice and guidance for food businesses and work with them to help them achieve and maintain the required standards.

“However if businesses fail in their responsibility then we will not hesitate to use the law to protect the public,” a Council spokesman.