Nestlé announces the closure of the implicated Buitoni factory

The Buitoni factory in Caudry (Nord), implicated in the death of two children and the poisoning of dozens of others by pizzas contaminated with E. coli bacteria, will close permanently, the Nestlé group announced on Thursday March 30. . The activity of the site had been suspended on March 2, after a partial reopening in mid-December. “No layoffs will be notified before December 31, 2023”says Nestlé, who “undertakes at the same time to launch a process of finding a solid and lasting recovery solution for the plant” and to offer the 140 factory employees “an opportunity for internal redeployment”.

In February 2022, Public Health France (SPF) and the Fraud Prevention Department were alerted to an upsurge in cases of kidney failure in children. In March, Nestlé had recalled its pizzas and closed the two production lines of the Caudry factory, after cases of serious poisoning by the E. coli bacteria. The line of raw dough pizzas in the Fraîch’Up range is suspected of having caused the fatal poisonings.

Nestlé advances “flour contamination” as an explanation “most likely” of the presence of the bacteria on his pizzas. Other causes are mentioned, such as “the presence of rodents” and the “lack of maintenance and cleaning of manufacturing areas” of the factory, highlighted by health inspections, according to the prefecture. A judicial investigation has been open since May in Paris for manslaughter and involuntary injuries.