Rust, mould, several maintenance and cleaning faults in the rooms of the frozen pizza factory have been identified since 2012 by the Repression of Fraud.
The Repression of Fraud had pointed to “shortcomings” from 2012 and sent in 2020 a “Warningto Nestlé asking it to solve the hygiene problems of the Buitoni factory in Caudry (North), at the heart of a recent health scandal, according to reports of which AFP obtained a copy on Wednesday, confirming information from the Disclose site .
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In inspection reports dated 2012, 2014 and 2020, agents of the Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations (DDPP) in the North attached to the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF), noted maintenance and cleaning faults in several rooms of the frozen pizza factory. In 2012, the DDPP already noted, among other things, “moth threads in different places“. In 2014, she notably spotted “mold” and some “rust“. As of September 2020, the bakery cap is considered “messy“, with “some cobwebs“. Painting is alwayschipped or missing in places», «the material is greasy and oily“. In the upholstery room, the air duct is “messy” with dirt “accumulated“. The hood grills are dirty.
At the end, the inspectors sent a “warning followedto the Swiss agrifood giant, a spokesman for the DGCCRF confirmed to AFP. “The company would have to put in place an ‘action plan’ to comply and resolve the hygiene issues that had been identified“, he developed. “There was a follow-up in March 2021, for the most part the action plan has been put in place and the corrective measures have been taken by the factory“. These two checks had been announced 48 hours in advance to the management of the factory due to teleworking linked to the health crisis, according to the DGCCRF.
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In March 2022, when the inspectors return there “as part of the alert“, they note”a very marked deterioration in hygiene conditionscompared to September 2020 and March 2021. On March 18, Nestlé closed two pizza production lines. The Nord prefecture banned the activity by order of April 1, after the health authorities announced that they had established a link between the consumption of Fraich’up pizzas and several serious cases of Escherichia coli contamination. A judicial investigation is underway in Paris, in particular for manslaughter and involuntary injuries. Asked, Nestlé did not respond immediately.