In recent weeks, several foods, including Kinder chocolates from the Ferrero brand and pizzas from the Buitoni brand, have been recalled. The latter are suspected of being responsible for serious cases of contamination of children by Salmonella and E.Coli bacteria. Many families of child victims have testified and some have taken legal action.
- On April 14, the government site Rappel Conso indicated that the advent calendars marketed for the end of year celebrations 2021 were also recalled, because the health authorities fear the presence of salmonella in these chocolates.
- After food recalls spiked, 53% of French people said they wanted to change their shopping habits, according to a YouGov poll conducted for LSA magazine.
On April 5, the prefect of the North announced the ban on pizza production at the Buitoni factory in Caudry, which is closed until further notice. Three days later, the Belgian authorities also decided to close the Ferrero factory located in Arlon.
Several food poisonings
Since mid-March, Fraich’Up pizzas from the Buitoni brand have been suspected of being contaminated with E.Coli bacteria. “As of April 13, 53 confirmed cases have been identified. (…) For 26 other cases of haemolytic-uremic syndrome and shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections notified to Public Health France, investigations are ongoing”, can we read in the latest update from the health authority. The consumption of contaminated Buitoni pizzas would have caused the death of two children.
As for Kinder chocolates from Ferrero, they have been recalled and withdrawn from sale because they may contain Salmonella, an agent that causes salmonellosis. According to the ministry of healthas of April 7, 21 cases of infection caused by the ingestion of salmonella have been identified in France, spread over 11 regions. “The median age is 4 years old and there are 11 boys and 10 girls. Eight of them were hospitalized and all returned home,” indicates the ministry.
Parents of victims take legal action
Thus, many children suffered from severe food poisoning. This is the case of Léna, 12, who lives in the suburbs of Nancy. His parents, Cédric and Sophie, told theEast Republican that the young girl had consumed, with her family, a Fraich’Up pizza from the Buitoni brand. After eating this product, she was contaminated with E.Coli bacteria. For two months, the teenager has been hospitalized at the University Hospital of Nancy.
In an interview with RMChis parents said doctors “took the decision to put her in a coma, to avoid too much pain, to alleviate her suffering a little”. The victim now has “large lesions”, “in the frontal lobe and on the back of the brain”. Léna’s mother indicated that she was “still in a vegetative state. (…) We talk to him, but there is nothing”. “Today they can’t tell us if she will make it,” added Cedric.
Léna’s parents filed a complaint against the Buitoni brand. They are not the only ones who have decided to take legal action. And for good reason, their lawyer specified that at least 45 cases related to this ingestion of pizzas contaminated with E. Coli bacteria had been entrusted to him.
The families of children who are sick due to the consumption of Kinder chocolates have also filed a complaint. According to France 3 Normandy, the mother of a 2-year-old boy, living in Val-de-Reuil (Eure) has taken legal action against Ferrero, because her son was admitted to hospital after eating a Kinder chocolate. This product would not have been contaminated by the agent Salmonella, but by another bacterium, campylobacter.
.
