Renowned bacteriologist Professor Hugh Pennington has told of his surprise at being made a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

The Emeritus Professor of Bacteriology at Aberdeen University is honoured for services to microbiology and food hygiene.

"It was a very pleasant surprise when the letter came," he said. "It's nice to be recognised for the work one's been doing over the years in microbiology and food safety. It's a top award and it shows one has been working hard."

The professor was chair of bacteriology at Aberdeen University from 1979 until his retirement with Emeritus status in 2003.

He is best known for chairing an inquiry into the outbreak of E.coli in Lanarkshire in 1996 and leading another inquiry into an outbreak of the bug in Wales in 2005.

Looking back over his career, he said: "Over the years I've had some really very good mentors and people supporting career development.

"I've worked in London, the US, Glasgow and Aberdeen, and each place has been very good for the sort of interests that I've developed.

"I have also been lucky in the way that technology has developed as well, which has allowed us to get to grips with some of these bugs.

"People said bugs are finished, they are not a problem any more. With the benefit of hindsight it was wise to reject that advice, and it all followed from there."

He added: "It's nice to have this kind of accolade to remember that microbiology is important and the work one does, I hope, has led to some improvement for the public at large."

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Pennington surprised at honour