Europe 1 with AFP 10:19 p.m., September 15, 2022

One of the two production lines of the Buitoni factory in Caudry (Nord) from which the pizzas contaminated by the E. coli bacterium, linked to the death of two children and dozens of poisonings, came out, could restart in November 2022. A reopening subject to a decision by the authorities. 

One of the two production lines of the Buitoni factory in Caudry (Nord) from which the pizzas contaminated by the E. coli bacteria, linked to the death of two children and dozens of poisonings, came out, could restart in November 2022 "subject to the agreement of the authorities", announced Thursday a spokesperson for Nestlé France to AFP.

The group also revealed several results of internal analyzes carried out by the company itself: these confirm, according to Nestlé, "the most probable hypothesis of contamination of the flour by the bacterium E. coli STEC" , one of the strains of this bacterium.

These analyzes were carried out in May and June on flour delivered to the factory in March 2022, just after the outbreak of this health scandal.

This flour was stored in several of the mill's silos.

"A Restart Protocol" 

Contamination from flour delivered by a supplier was one of the hypotheses raised by the boss of Nestlé France in an interview with

Le Figaro

in July and by employees in a survey by

France Inter

.

But other possible causes have been put forward, such as cleaning and hygiene conditions.

>>

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An investigation by the health authorities is also underway, the results of which are unknown at this time.

Nestlé France, which says it has taken more than 2,000 samples, claims not to have detected any bacteria on the production lines and their environment (walls, grids, etc.)

According to the spokesperson, E.coli was on frozen pizzas from the Fraîch'Up range produced between October 2021 and February 16, 2022. The group, which wishes to try to regain consumer confidence after this vast health scandal , indicates that it has since put in place “a restart protocol” for the factory concerning only one of the two production lines, the one which was not affected by the contaminations, still according to the spokesperson.

That of Fraîch'Up pizzas, however, remains suspended "until further notice".