EIGHT months after a serious food poisoning outbreak which hospitalised 13 people, experts are no nearer to identifying the precise cause.

Most of the 138 cases of salmonella poisoning reported in May and June last year could be traced back to the former Lau's Buffet King, in North Road, Durham.

All cases had diarrhoea, many had abdominal pain, fever, nausea and vomiting.

But according to the official report into the outbreak by Dr Deb Wilson, consultant in communicable disease control, no specific food item was identified as a likely cause of infection.

In the view of Dr Wilson, of County Durham and Tees Valley Health Protection Unit, the co-ordinated efforts of the agencies involved "quickly identified the outbreak and took effective measures to protect the public health."

The report, due to go before Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust this Thursday (Jan. 22), comes to the conclusion that the source of the outbreak is likely to be from contamination of food, most likely poultry and eggs.

Experts came to the conclusion that the cause was probably due to: deficiencies in food handling, problems with the storage temperature of some food or staff who were either infected during the outbreak or were carriers of salmonella.

Dr Wilson points out that the outbreak was the first reported incidence of Salmonella enteritidis PT56 in the UK since it was first identified in Autumn 2002.

The report states that after consideration of the evidence and after seeking legal advice, Durham City Council decided not to begin proceedings against the restaurant for food hygiene matters.

The restaurant helped with the inquiry, closing for four days and improving hygiene measures.

Nine months before the outbreak, all staff underwent food hygiene training and no previous problems with food poisoning had been reported. A new restaurant under new management and with a different name now operates from the same premises.