Five people are in intensive care in Tours on Tuesday and some 600 cans of wild garlic pesto are being sought across France, with authorities suspecting cases of botulism, a potentially fatal disease.
During a press conference at the Tours regional university hospital (CHRU), the prefect of Indre-et-Loire, Patrice Latron, indicated that “two couples (had) presented themselves at the emergency room on Saturday”, followed by a fifth person on Sunday after having participated in the same “birthday meal”.
The patients, all adults, “are currently in intensive care, conscious, intubated, ventilated” at the Tours University Hospital, Mr. Latron said.
No further details were given on the health status and identity of the patients.
“Based on converging evidence,” health authorities suspect cases of botulism linked to the ingestion of “a product called Ô p’tits Oignons, which is a wild garlic pesto, produced in Touraine,” according to the prefect.
This artisanal product is “strongly suspected of being the source of this contamination”, which can be fatal, he stressed.
The priority now is to “scientifically validate the botulism hypothesis and then provide them with the best possible treatment” as well as to take “prevention measures to prevent other people from consuming the suspected product”.
– Recall of 600 jars –
In total, “we are looking for 600 jars” throughout France, estimated the prefect.
They were sold at four events: the “Fête des Plantes et du Printemps” at the Château de la Bourdaisière in Montlouis-sur-Loire in late March, the “Nature en fête” festival at the Château de Cangé in Saint-Avertin in mid-April, the “Foire à l’ail et au basilic” in Tours in late July and the “Festival de la tomate et des saveurs” at the Château de la Bourdaisière in Montlouis-sur-Loire, which was held on Saturday and Sunday, he said.
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“The incubation period for this toxin is between 4 hours and 8 days,” he recalled, wanting to “reassure people who consumed this product several weeks ago” and calling on those who bought the canned goods to “throw them away, destroy them.”
If the points of sale are located within the same region, the alert was given “immediately at the national level with a relay at the level of the Ministries of Health and Agriculture”, according to the director of public health for the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Centre-Val de Loire, Jean-Christophe Comboroure, during this same press conference.
Some 30% of the jars were sold by credit card and a team of investigators “are currently tracking down all the customers and contacting them”, reported the departmental director of population protection (DDPP) of Indre-et-Loire, Carine Bar.
According to Mr. Latron, a “food investigation” was “immediately launched” between the ARS of Centre-Val de Loire and the DDPP services.
It is coupled with a judicial investigation, he confirmed.
This “criminal investigation”, entrusted to the interdepartmental management of the national police and the DDPP, retains “for the moment” the offence of “involuntary injuries by a legal person followed by incapacity for more than three months”, the public prosecutor of Tours, Catherine Sorita-Minard, told AFP.
– “Sincerely sorry” –
On his Facebook page, the producer of the canned goods in question said he was “sincerely sorry” for this situation.
Botulism is a rare and serious neurological condition, fatal in 5 to 10% of cases, caused by a very powerful toxin produced by a bacterium which develops in particular in poorly preserved foods due to insufficient sterilization.
It causes eye problems (double vision), difficulty swallowing and, in advanced forms, paralysis of the muscles, particularly respiratory muscles, which can lead to death.
In September 2023, 16 customers, including a woman who died, were identified as “suspected cases of botulism” after eating homemade canned sardines at a tourist restaurant in central Bordeaux.
In France, botulism is rare: the average incidence has stabilized since 1980 at around 20-30 outbreaks per year, most often involving one to three patients each.
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