The Buitoni affair has damaged consumer confidence. Since the early 2000s, no other health scandal has had such repercussions. Batches of Buitoni pizzas contaminated with the E.coli bacteria may have been removed from supermarkets since March, but the French are moving away from the department.
The turnover generated by sales of frozen pizzas in supermarkets plummeted 34.2% between March 14 and June 19 compared to the previous year, according to data transmitted by Nielsen to BFM Business. Sales of fresh pizzas, of which no batch had yet been contaminated, also suffered, with a drop of 9.4% in this same period. They were on the rise at the beginning of the year.
two deceased children
Since February, Public Health France has identified 56 cases of E. coli poisoning linked to the consumption of Buitoni frozen pizzas. Among them, 55 children, two of whom died. Others have serious consequences.
The parents of a 12-year-old girl, a victim of hemolytic uremic syndrome caused by a contaminated Buitoni pizza, testified Monday at RMC. Lena has “mental disabilities, a lot of memory loss. She doesn’t recognize everyone. She has lost the equivalent of four years of her life,” her father said.
At the end of March, an inspection by the prefecture and the DGCCRF at the factory in Caudry (North), where Buitoni pizzas were produced, revealed serious breaches of hygiene standards. Presence of rodents, food on the floor, employees who do not wash their hands… On March 22, a judicial investigation was opened for “involuntary homicide”, “deception” and “endangering others”.
The images broadcast in the media shocked. But that is not enough to explain the collapse in supermarket sales.
A “deep” and “lasting” crisis
“It is not a simple deception, there have been consequences for people. The nature of the product we are talking about is another element, because some have a more problematic imagination than others. Pizza is an everyday and above all family product. The children eat. The overlapping of these two levels makes this crisis serious,” he adds.
This is also what explains why, unlike Kinder, for example, the scandal affects the entire pizza department and not just the Buitoni brand.
Will consumers ever be able to forget this issue?
The only comparable example would be, according to him, the scandal of the Tradilège rillettes, sold by Leclerc in the 1990s. Contaminated by Listeria, they were responsible for the death of three people and caused four abortions. “Leclerc had made the brand disappear for 10 years, because the Tradilège rillettes had become the rillettes that kill”, says Olivier Dauvers.
Regarding Buitoni, complaints have been filed from consumers and victims throughout France. The health center of the Paris prosecutor’s office is in charge of the investigation. Today, more than 70 families are waiting to be heard by the courts. The CEO of Nestlé France, owner of the Buitoni brand, announced in mid-July the creation of a support fund for the victims.
Source: BFM TV
