CASES of food poisoning almost doubled during this summer, prompting warnings about bank holiday barbecues.

Mid Sussex District Council and the Food Standards Agency advises pre-cooking meat or poultry in the oven first, before finishing it off on the barbecue for flavour.

The agency said: “You may have heard of salmonella and E.coli, which are well known causes of food poisoning, but you may not be aware that nearly 60% of chicken sold in the UK contains a bug called campylobacter, which can lead to sickness, diarrhoea, disability and worse.”

For more details, visit www.food.gov.uk/lovebbq