The temporary closure of a shellfish bed in Pembrokeshire has been lifted today.

Pembrokeshire County Council temporarily closed the shellfish production area last month, after a sample of cockles taken from a designated monitoring point revealed an E.coli level more than 18,000 E.coli/100g of flesh.

The bed, covering Angle Bay to the west of a north/south line through Sawdern point was closed, as part of an "action state" under the South West Wales Local Action Plan, following discussions with the Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and the Food Standards Agency Wales.

Re-sampling of the area since the May 19th closure has revealed that the elevated sampling levels are now normal and the bed has reopened for production.

In accordance with EU food hygiene legislation, Pembrokeshire County Council is under a duty to monitor the microbiological standards of certain types of shellfish from areas designated for the production of shellfish for human consumption.