The CEO of the Castel Viandes group, a company specializing in slaughtering and cutting, was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison suspended and 10,000 euros fine by the Nantes criminal court. Sentenced for “deception on the quality of goods” and “marketing of products of animal origin detrimental to health”, Joseph Viol was also released from “obstructing” health checks. The company, based in Châteaubriant (Loire-Atlantique), was sentenced to a fine of 40,000 euros for the same heads of prevention. Two other executives were released.
“With this decision, the court acknowledges the fact that there were no victims, otherwise the sentences would have been much heavier. And the release of two employees symbolizes the fact that there was neither manipulation nor organization, ”reacted to the press the lawyer for Castel Meats and its CEO, Me Benoît Chabert.
A former employee gives the alert
The facts examined by the court dated from 2010 to 2013. The judicial information had been opened just after, when the scandal broke out, following accusations brought by a former employee, Pierre Hinard, dismissed five years earlier. The latter affirmed that the group practiced at the time the “repackage”, recycling of spoiled meat from unsold items. Several customers had been deceived, such as Auchan, Flunch, or Système U.
Arguing that this former employee had brought his accusations only out of “personal revenge” following his dismissal, the lawyers of the three executives had rejected all of the heads of prevention as a whole, ensuring that no “health risk” had ever been incurred by consumers.