AN award-winning curry takeaway is being investigated after 200 guests at a wedding reception went down with suspected food poisoning.

Of the 300 people who attended the wedding in Bicester, up to 70 per cent went down with suspected food poisoning shortly afterwards, say council health officers.

The Jaflong Tandoori Takeaway in Market Square, Bicester, which provided some of the food at the reception, is now being investigated by environmental health officers.

Last year the Jaflong was awarded second prize in a Cherwell District Council-supported Curry Chef of the Year competition.

The competition was judged not just on quality of food but also on hygiene and safety standards.

Eileen Edwards, head of environmental health, said: "We have taken food samples and we are at this stage investigating. We haven't reached any firm conclusions. People did suffer food poisoning symptoms It takes a long time as we have to interview guests about what they ate and where they ate. Sometimes we can never prove one thing or another."

She said 70 per cent of people had the food poisoning symptoms, following the reception on April 19, though there is a possibility the illness may have been due to a virus not connected with food.

Shakur Ali, manager of the take away, said the wedding was done as a favour for a friend's daughter who was getting married.

Some of the food was bought from a store in Oxford and some of the desserts were bought in London and transported to the reception by different parties.

He also disputed the figures and questioned why, as everyone had eaten the same food, not everyone was affected.

He added the takeaway had been open for one-and-a-half years without a single complaint of food poisoning.

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