A judicial investigation was opened after the hospitalization in September of five people in Indre-et-Loire, victims of food poisoning suspected of being linked to botulism, announced the Tours prosecutor’s office. The investigation continues, and an investigating judge has been appointed to look into the responsibilities in this case.
The people hospitalized, all aged around thirty, had consumed cans of wild garlic pesto from the “O Ptits Oignons” brand during a birthday meal. Their state of health remains “worrying”, according to the public prosecutor of Tours, Catherine Sorita-Minard, and no other contamination has been detected at this stage.
The manufacturer heard by the courts
The prosecution retained the offenses of “unintentional injuries with total incapacity for work for more than three months through a clearly deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence, and involuntary injuries by a legal entity”. As part of the preliminary investigation, the manufacturer of the artisanal pesto was interviewed, and legal expertise was ordered to analyze the production equipment as well as the pots of pesto recovered.
On September 7 and 8, two couples then a fifth person presented to the Tours emergency room with symptoms of serious poisoning after having participated in the same meal. The Ministry of Health confirmed in mid-September the presence of the bacteria responsible for botulism in the jars of pesto consumed by the victims.
A rare neurological disease
This case recalls a similar incident that occurred in Bordeaux in September 2023, when sixteen people were poisoned after consuming canned sardines in a restaurant, leading to the death of a woman. Botulism, although rare, remains a serious threat in the event of failures in food preservation.
It is in fact a rare neurological disease, caused by an extremely powerful toxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum, which develops in poorly preserved or insufficiently sterilized foods. This condition can prove fatal in 5 to 10% of cases.
