A high-profile French restaurateur is stepping down from the restaurant he founded after more than three dozen customers reportedly contracted sexually transmitted diseases after eating there.

Jacques DeNoiret had previously won many prestigious awards in his decade-long ownership of restaurant Le Gallion, including a coveted Michelin three-star rating.

The restaurant situated in Annecy, in the Haute-Savoie area of France, which borders Switzerland and Italy, had reached enviable status for its creme souffle, which gastronomes from around the world would travel to just for a taste of the high-end dessert.

“After laboratory analysis of the creme souffle, Mr. DeNoiret was forced to admit that the secret ingredient he used was human semen from one of his employees” attorney Luc Rochelle, of the firm Lacasse & Pilfroy, told reporters.

“My employee from which we procured the special ingredient did not tell me that he had contracted herpes and syphilis and has since been fired,” chef Jacques DeNoiret admitted after the truth was exposed to the media.

Chef DeNoiret was also forced to admit that he paid his employees bonuses at work for their production of semen which amounted up to two liters certain days.

“You would masturbate in a cup which you then brought to the chef who would then weigh it in front of you and pay you a bonus at the end of the week,” one former employee told reporters under the guise of anonymity.

Employees were also encouraged to collect and refrigerate semen at home and even to bring in their used condoms filled with the coveted spermatozoids.

Chef DeNoiret has since offered public apologies to those who had contracted genital herpes and possibly syphilis but still criticized the taboo over sperm describing it as an “extraordinary culinary ingredient” which has “much to offer modern cuisine with its atypical aromas and unique flavor.”