Top chef Heston Blumenthal has said he expects a report on the reason why hundreds of diners at his feted Fat Duck restaurant fell ill to come out in the next fortnight.
The three-Michelin-starred eaterie was even closed for a fortnight in March after 400 people had severe sickness after eating there.
Speaking at the Hay Festival in mid Wales, Blumenthal said the Health Protection Agency investigation was delayed after staff were diverted to working on countering the swine flu outbreak.
The report, which should have been out by now, is expected to be delivered in the next two weeks he said.
"I really can't say too much about it but what I can say, with all the manner of tests we did, is that it is categorically not food poisoning," he told the packed-out marquee.
The 42-year-old was in an otherwise garrulous mood as he entertained and amused the enthralled audience with anecdotes about how he became one of the most revered and successful chefs in Britain.
In conversation with food critic and author Jay Rayner, Blumenthal said he didn't have a particularly "foodie" background growing up in Berkshire.
"I was born in the 60s and was a 70s kid," he said. "In the 70s Britain was not a country to be revered for its cooking or ingredients bearing in mind in those days the only spaghetti you could get was in a blue packet and you didn't cook with olive oil, you poured it in your ears! In that respect food has moved on immensely. My mum was a great cook but I had no experience of gastronomy. I didn't even know what an oyster looked like."
He said it was only when he was 15 during a rare holiday abroad to France with his parents that a passion for quality food was ignited.
Because "dad's business was doing well," he said the family dined at the Michelin-starred L'Oustau de Baumaniere in a small village in Provence and a love affair with cooking began. He said the whole experience at the L'Oustau de Baumaniere, with its unique and appealing sights and sounds, was one of the reasons why he leaned towards the "sensory output" side of things with the Fat Duck.
