Searches were carried out on Wednesday at the Buitoni factory in Caudry (Nord), where the Fraich’Up frozen pizzas are produced, suspected of having caused serious cases of contamination of children by the E. coli bacterium, and at the headquarters of Nestlé in the Hauts-de-Seine.
Searches were carried out on Wednesday at the Buitoni factory in Caudry (Nord), where the Fraich’Up frozen pizzas are produced, suspected of having caused serious cases of contamination of children by the E. coli bacterium, and at the headquarters of Nestlé in Hauts-de-Seine, several sources told AFP. In Caudry, the search has been underway since this morning, under the responsibility of the Paris prosecutor’s office, which has opened an investigation, in particular for “involuntary homicides”, “deception” and “endangering others”, specified the gendarmerie, confirming information from the daily La Voix du Nord. The Paris prosecutor’s office, which opened its investigation on March 22 and entrusted it to the public health center, confirmed to AFP that the operation was in progress.
The search targeting the Nestlé group factory is being carried out, according to the gendarmerie, by gendarmes from the Central Office for the Fight against Attacks on the Environment and Public Health (Oclaesp). The Paris prosecutor’s office also confirmed the information from franceinfo that searches were underway at Nestlé’s head office in Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine).
“The presence of rodents and the absence of means of protection”
The prefect of the North had prohibited by a prefectural decree on April 1 the production of pizzas within the Caudry factory, following “two in-depth hygiene inspections” carried out on March 22 and 29 by agents from the Departmental Directorate of Population Protection (DDPP) in the North and the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF). These inspections “have highlighted a degraded level of control of food hygiene”, specified the decree.
They pointed in particular to “the presence of rodents and the absence of means of protection against the entry of pests and effective pest control adapted to a food activity”, as well as the “lack of maintenance and cleaning of manufacturing, storage and passage areas”. These anomalies “constitute a significant source of microbiological, physical or chemical contamination of foodstuffs handled in the establishment, which therefore present or are likely to present a danger to the health of consumers”, according to the decree. Buitoni had then indicated “to cooperate closely with the authorities within the framework of their investigation” to determine the origin of the E. Coli bacterium and to work “on an action plan and appropriate measures following this prefectural decree”.
Since the end of February, France has experienced a resurgence of cases of kidney failure in children linked to contamination with E. coli. Health authorities announced at the end of March that they had established a link between the consumption of pizzas produced in Caudry and several serious cases of contamination, while dozens of French children fell ill and two died.