Health officials in France said workers at Airbus Atlantic's site in the west of the country suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea.

The local ARS health agency has not revealed what was on the menu at the event, which was organised by the company's staff council and held last Friday in Montoir-de-Bretagne.

An investigation was being carried out to find the source of the illness, the ARS told the AFP news agency.

It is believed most of the employees were back at work on the Monday after the event and no one was seriously ill.

Airbus Atlantic, a subsidiary of aerospace group Airbus, employs 15,000 people in five countries.

In a statement to Sky News, an Airbus spokesperson said: "On Friday 15 December, around 100 Airbus Atlantic employees were taken ill after contracting a food-borne illness after eating the company-organised Christmas lunch.

"This appears to be an isolated event and all employees are recovering well.

"The health of our employees remains our primary concern and we are fully cooperating with the ARS health agency to identify the cause of the illness and ensure this cannot happen again in the future."

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The wider Airbus organisation employs 134,000 people and is one of the largest aircraft makers in the world.

It designs, manufactures and delivers aerospace products, and has operations for commercial aircraft, helicopters, defence, space and security.