Seven new complaints are filed, this Friday, May 27, in the case of contamination with E. coli bacteria. They would be linked to the consumption of Buitoni pizzas produced in Caudry, near Cambrai. These complaints join a thirty other complaints filed under thejudicial investigation opened by the Paris package on May 12.
A total of 56 people were infected, two children died. The Hauts-de-France are the most affected region, with 12 cases recorded.
Me Richard Legrand, lawyer for the families who are filing a complaint this Friday was the guest of the morning show of France Bleu Nord.
What is the profile of the families you represent?
These are families who have had serious forms, in young children around ten years old, and who suffer from kidney failure among other things. Unfortunately, this kind of symptom can follow a child all his life.
Seven complaints filed, does that not necessarily mean seven victims?
I represent two families in which several people have fallen ill. Especially since it is not always the direct victims who file a complaint, relatives can also file a complaint while constituting a civil action.
I am already in contact with other families, with whom we are preparing complaints. The number of civil parties will therefore increase in the coming weeks.
The contaminations took place in January, the wave of complaints is beginning, why such a delay?
You have to prepare the files first, by surrounding yourself with expert doctors, it takes time. And above all, it was necessary for the families to be able to constitute civil parties that a judicial investigation be opened. This has now been done since May 12.
With these new complaints, what will concretely change for families?
We will finally be able to have access to the investigation file, and therefore to the elements of the investigation, for example those on the searches carried out at the Caudry factory and at the headquarters of Nestlé France (owner of Buitoni, editor’s note) in Issy-les-Moulineaux. There are still gray areas, it’s a real puzzle, we try to reconstruct the facts, what really happened. Access to the file is essential to advance the procedure.
The management of Nestlé has remained very discreet since the start of the affair, unlike that of Ferrero who speaks this Friday in the columns ofToday in France by publicly apologizing to families affected by salmonellosis after consuming contaminated Kinders. Do the families you represent also expect a public apology from Buitoni?
If there were excuses, they would come much too late and would not be enough. Families are not waiting for an apology, they are waiting for measures to be taken so that this kind of tragedy does not happen again. More control within the production chains, more means to control them, but it is also necessary that the alerts are better taken into consideration. There were alerts in Caudry as early as May 2021, nothing was done. The families are also asking for financial compensation for their damage.