A STOMACH bug scare over sandwiches dropped on Blackpool beach was slammed by a resort health chief.

Holiday Which? magazine carried out a survey of health risks on ten British beaches by dropping bread rolls, butter-side down, on the sand and analysing them for bugs.

Blackpool and Weston-super-Mare were the worst, with "stomach-churning" doses of E Coli bacteria, said the magazine, causing a significant health risk.

But Blackpool environmental health chairman, Coun Fred Jackson, said it was common sense not to eat food dropped anywhere - it was not just beaches that were contaminated.

"Obviously I'd want people to be aware of the dangers of eating food dropped on the floor or anywhere else, that goes without saying," he said.

"But I can't really understand why they chose to drop sandwiches on Blackpool beach in particular. "As far as I'm aware, nobody has suffered E.Coli poisoning from being on our beach."

Holiday Which? news editor Roger Lakin said: "The doses we found would be a significant health risk if found in food. The most likely source of the bacteria is seawater polluted with sewage."

North West Water last week started a further £100m of work designed to improve bathing water quality along the Fylde Coast, following the failure of a previous £100m scheme to achieve EC bathing water standards.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.