French news channel France Info’s ‘Envoyé spécial’ program devotes an episode to the health scandal of Nestlé Buitoni’s Fraîch’Up pizza, which a few months ago caused the death of two children and the E. coli poisoning of 50 others.
Nestlé Buitoni plant, a tragedy foretold
The poor sanitary conditions at the Nestlé Buitoni manufacturing plant in Caudry (Hauts-de-France) had been revealed a year before the tragedy by a former worker hired on a temporary basis for 18 months.
The man had posted in May 2021 on mrmondialisation.org a photo gallery of the Fraîch’Up frozen pizza production line. The pictures showed machines covered with grease accumulated over the years, flour with worms, very dirty floor, ingredients on the ground, mold.
Escherichia coli, the deadly bacterium
The origin of the E. coli contamination, according to the former employee now interviewed by Envoyé spécial, lies in the poor hygiene of the workers, who never washed their hands. He recounts that after an alert (“human fecal matter found in product samples“) there was a brief improvement. But“after three weeks, he returned to ‘normalcy’ [cioè come prima]”
Escherichia coli is not dangerous for adults, generally speaking, but it is a serious threat to children. ‘According to some scientists, one gram of feces can contain up to 1 billion Escherichia coli — and 500 would be enough to make a child sick…,’reports France Info.
All it took was a taste of pizza
Nestlé Buitoni’s Fraîch’Up pizza contaminated with Escherichia coli has in fact caused the death of two children. The drama is bravely told by the parents of two-and-a-half-year-old Kelig.
Their child only tasted one slice of the Fraîch’Up pizza. Violent diarrhea, then convulsions, then loss of kidney and heart function, and finally the cerebral hemorrhage that decreed his death on 10.3.22. An incomprehensible death, which only after a month and a half was linked to that pizza, when theAgence Nationale de Santé ‘s 20.4 statement issued apublic alert.
Negligence
The former worker says he warned management about the poor hygienic conditions on the production line and received no attention. However, the remarks were confirmed to reporters by another witness, who has worked at the plant for 20 years.
‘The lack of staff hygiene has not yet been confirmed to “Envoyé spécial” by other employees. When contacted, Nestlé management did not respond on this point. The group’s only reaction to the publication of the photos was on May 14, 2021, when it “denied these allegations” in a local newspaper‘.
“Forget it, it’ll work out”: the motto of Nestlé when, a year before the Buitoni pizza scandal, of the sanitary conditions at the Caudry’ plant, writes France Info.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
