A search has been underway since Wednesday morning at the Buitoni factory in Caudry in northern France, the gendarmerie said. This is the production site for Fraich’Up frozen pizzas considered by the health authorities to be the source of several serious cases of contamination of children by the E. coli bacterium.
The search of the Nestlé factory is carried out by gendarmes from the Central Office for the fight against attacks on the environment and public health (Oclaesp). It is under the responsibility of the Paris prosecutor’s office, which opened an investigation on March 22, in particular for “involuntary homicides”, “deception” and “endangering others”, specified the gendarmerie, confirming information from the daily The voice of the North.
“Degraded level of mastery of food hygiene”
The prefect of the North had prohibited by a prefectural decree on April 1 the production of pizzas within this factory, following “two in-depth hygiene inspections” carried out on March 22 and 29 by agents of the Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations (DDPP) of the North and the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF).
These inspections “highlighted a degraded level of control of food hygiene”, specified the decree, pointing in particular to “the presence of rodents and the absence of means of protection against the entry of pests and the fight against pests that are effective and suitable for a food business” as well as the “lack of maintenance and cleaning of manufacturing, storage and transit 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 then indicated “cooperate closely with the authorities as part of their investigation” to determine the source of the E. Coli bacteria and work “on an action plan and appropriate measures following this prefectural decree”.