The North prefecture authorized Friday the partial resumption of production in the Buitoni pizza factory in Caudry (North) of the Nestlé group, at the heart of a serious health scandal, which had been closed for nine months.
The line producing raw dough pizzas from the Fraîch'Up range, suspected of having caused the death of two children and the poisoning of dozens of other Escherichia coli bacteria, will remain shut down.
On the other hand, the prefect of the North announced in a press release on Friday that he had authorized, in a decree with immediate effect, the reopening of "
the line of pizzas with cooked dough, exclusively
", considering that on this part of the factory, "
the mastery of pizza production conditions
" had been achieved.
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“
This restart follows a process of several months, in consultation with the authorities, to meet detailed specifications on the security of our supplies, our products and on a plan to modernize the factory
”, reacted Nestlé to AFP.
"
We are approaching this reopening by continuing to be part of a process of proof and transparency vis-à-vis everyone
", added the group, specifying that "
the terms of recovery
" would be "
communicated in the coming days
".
“
It's what we've been waiting for for months, so we're happy.
It's going in the right direction
,” rejoiced Stéphane Derammelaere, Force Ouvrière delegate at the factory.
"
After that is a step.
We still need consumers to come back and buy our products.
»
Read alsoBuitoni affair: the boss of Nestlé France comes out of silence and makes an act of contrition
Public Health France (SPF) and the Fraud Prevention Department (DGCCRF) were alerted in February 2021 by an upsurge in cases of kidney failure in children, linked to contamination by Escherichia coli.
On March 18, Nestlé had recalled its pizzas and closed the two production lines, and on April 1, the prefecture had banned all activity there, the health authorities having established a link between the consumption of Fraîch'Up pizzas and several serious cases of E.coli contamination.
After searches in Caudry and at the headquarters of Nestlé in the Hauts-de-Seine, a judicial investigation was opened in mid-May, in particular for involuntary homicide against one person and involuntary injuries concerning 14 others.
The factory had been closed due
to "abnormalities in terms of hygiene of premises and foodstuffs (...), and in terms of food safety
", the prefecture recently reminded AFP, without detailing these anomalies.
According to her, Nestlé, owner of the Buitoni brand, only intended to resume the production of pizzas with cooked dough.
“Lack of maintenance”
This recovery was conditional on various operations of “
maintenance, cleaning-disinfection
”, and “
the strengthening of the health control plan
”, had specified the prefecture.
In July, the boss of Nestlé France, Christophe Cornu, had presented in our columns his “
apologies
” to the families of the children affected and announced the creation of a “
victim support fund
”.
Nestlé France had indicated that it had taken more than 2,000 samples and had not detected any bacteria on the production lines and their environment (walls, grids, etc.), but had indeed detected the bacteria on frozen pizzas produced between October 2021 and the February 16, 2022.
According to internal analyzes carried out by the company, "
the most probable hypothesis
" is that "
of contamination of the flour by the bacterium E.coli STEC
", of the same type as that found in the pizzas originally contamination.
Other possible causes have also been put forward, such as cleaning and hygiene conditions, after several warnings in the past and accusatory testimonies from employees.
Inspections by health authorities for several years had reported "
the presence of rodents
" and the "
lack of maintenance and cleaning of manufacturing, storage and passage areas
" in the factory, according to the prefectural decree of April 1. .
In October, the president of Nestlé Paul Bulcke said he wanted to go "
to the bottom
" of the question to understand what happened at the Caudry factory.
