BUITONI PIZZA. It is now the turn of Buitoni’s Four à Pierre pizzas to be suspected of contamination with E.coli bacteria. The range of Bella Napoli pizzas is also implicated less than two months after the Fraîch’Up scandal.
[Mis à jour le 6 mai 2022 à 11h22] And three. Buitoni pizzas are once again blamed for contamination with E.coli bacteria. Two new product ranges are concerned: Bella Napoli pizzas and Four à Pierre pizzas. The suspicions were made public Thursday, May 5, the day after a complaint was filed against Buitoni by a consumer contaminated with E.coli after eating a pizza from the Bella Napoli range. In the evening, Franceinfo indicated that the pizza maker would soon be the subject of a second complaint for “endangering the lives of others”, “involuntary injuries” and “deception”, for the same reasons but this times on Four à Pierre products. The two contaminations occurred in March but the consumers, a mother and a 7-year-old girl still bear the stigma of the infection, which each time led to hospitalization for several days.
After the Fraîch’up scandal, Buitoni pizzas are in the sights but the link between contamination with E.coli bacteria and the brand’s Bella Napoli and Four à Pierre ranges has not yet been confirmed, unlike the first product range. Asked by the Parisian, Professor François-Xavier Weill, of the National Reference Center of the Institut Pasteur, believes that it is not yet possible to incriminate the Bella Napoli and Four à Pierre pizzas in the two contaminations but “what is certain, it is that we are not at all on a national epidemic, as is the case with Fraîch’up”, he assured from the outset. For the doctors who took care of the patients, the suspicions of an E.coli infection and the consumption of Buitoni pizzas very quickly appeared and the link between the two events is beyond doubt for the lawyer of the mother of the family. infected, Me Pierre Debuisson, who judges that “the precautionary principle is totally flouted in this case, by Nestlé, by the health authorities, and by the courts”. In addition to complaints, these new cases of E.coli were reported to regional health agencies and supermarkets, but the steps were not enough to remove products from the Bella Napoli and Four à Pierre ranges from supermarket shelves.
The range of Four à Pierre pizzas targeted by a complaint
Four à Pierre pizzas are the third range of Buitoni products suspected of being the source of E.coli contamination. It is a family of consumers who hold the brand’s pizzas responsible for the infection of their 7-year-old daughter, which occurred after the child ate a Four à Pierre pizza. According to France info, the contamination dates back to March and led the girl to be hospitalized for two days for serious intestinal problems caused by the E.coli bacteria. The parents of the little girl will file a complaint against Buitoni pizzas for “endangering the lives of others”, “involuntary injuries”, “deception”.
Are Buitoni’s Bella Napoli pizzas contaminated?
The Bella Napoli range of pizzas is also involved in a case of contamination with E.coli bacteria. So far, only a complaint filed on May 4 has been upheld against the brand for this specific product reported BFM TV. The contamination dates from March 27 when the consumer tasted a slice of Bella Napoli pizza and two days later the symptoms of an infection with the E. coli bacterium appeared: painful stomach pains, vomiting and fever. Hospitalized, the young woman remained in the hospital for six days and said she had “never experienced pain like that” according to the details of theAFP. Medical examinations confirmed the presence of two bacteria: E.coli and Shigella.
If the legal proceedings have been initiated by the consumer and her lawyer, the link between the consumption of a Bella Napoli pizza and the infection with the E. coli bacterium is only suspected. Buitoni’s recent history with the scandal of Fraîch’Up pizzas contaminated with the same bacteria in March tilts the balance towards the responsibility of the Buitoni product in the contamination. The doctors were the first to establish a link between the new case of E.coli and the frozen pizzas of the Buitoni brand, as indicated by the contaminated consumer: “The doctor came to my room and asked me if I had eaten a pizza in the last few days, showing me all the pizzas of Buitoni”. And if the Buitoni pizzas come from the same factory as the Fraîch’Up range, the contamination of the pizzas would be very likely, but the Buitoni brand assures the Parisian : “The Bella Napoli pizza range is imported from Italy and all the analyzes carried out on the productions of this pizza range in the last twelve months reveal no anomaly and the product fully complies with quality and food safety criteria. .”
Contaminated “Fraîch’Up” pizzas, scandal at Buitoni
Before the Bella Napoli pizzas, it was the Fraîch’Up range, also marketed by Buitoni, which was singled out after the consumption of the products led to contamination and caused violent symptoms in dozens of children. At the end of March, analyzes confirmed “a link between several cases [de malades et e graves contaminations] and the consumption of frozen pizzas from the Fraîch’Up range of the Buitoni brand contaminated with Escherichia coli bacteria”, explained the General Directorate of Health in a statement. The highlighting of the correlation forced Buitoni to recall all its products from the Fraîch’Up range put on the shelves before March 18.
In addition to the withdrawal of products from the range of supermarket shelves, Buitoni has since the beginning of April been the subject of an investigation initiated by the Paris prosecutor’s office for “involuntary homicides”, “deception” and ” endangering others”.
Recall of Buitoni pizzas, which products are concerned?
First and only product whose contamination with E.coli bacteria is certain, Buitoni’s Fraîch’Up pizzas are the only products of the brand to have been recalled. All batches of the product with an expiry date ranging from June 1, 2021 until March 31, 2023 have been removed from the shelves of the Auchan, Casino, Carrefour, Cora, Francap, Franprix, Intermarché, Leclerc, Lidl, Match, Monoprix and System U. As for the batches already sold, customers were asked to return the products to avoid any risk of contamination with E.coli bacteria due to a Buitoni pizza.
Bella Napoli pizzas have not yet been the subject of a product recall and are still available on supermarket shelves to the chagrin of the complaining consumer and her lawyer.
Symptoms, dangerousness… What is this E.coli bacterium?
The E. coli bacterium which contaminated Buitoni’s Fraîch’Up pizzas and suspected of being present in the Bella Napoli range of pizzas establishes itself in the digestive tract and although most of the bacteria in this family are harmless, some may lead to various and more or less serious disorders. Painful stomach aches, diarrhoea, vomiting and fever are the most recurrent symptoms but E.coli can cause hemorrhagic colitis and in the most serious cases it can evolve into a syndrome hemolytic and uremic (HUS). HUS “is characterized by impaired kidney function and a drop in the concentration of blood cells. A quarter of people suffering from HUS also develop neurological complications that can lead to a state of coma”, details thePastor Institute. It is especially in children that the E.coli bacterium develops and can be dangerous. In France, of the 55 E.coli contaminations reported in the latest report from Public Health France as of April 25, 54 relate to children. For these infected children, the risk of keeping sequelae from the contamination is significant. Several testimonials from parents whose children have been infected report the sometimes serious consequences of the infection. On BFM TV a mother of two children aged 3 and 9 explains that they still keep traces of their contamination more than two months after eating the Buitoni pizzas. “The little one is still in kidney failure,” she says, listing the symptoms of the infection.
Two children dead from E.Coli, Buitoni pizzas responsible?
Two children died after being contaminated with the E.coli bacterium, but in these two cases the link with Buitoni pizzas is not confirmed, even if it is established that the children consumed products from the Fraîch’ range. Up before getting sick. The brand has not spoken since the scandal, even less on the death of these two children. Buitoni’s silence angered the parents of the infected children. “We have no word of apology, no return from them, and I find that completely unacceptable”, denounced a consumer and mother of a family to BFM TV. For only answer, the mark sent a voucher of 20 euros to certain family, in particular to one of the two children died of the bacterium E.coli. A behavior that shocked despite the explanations of Buitoni who mentioned an error and apologized to the family.