Three months ago, a dozen people suffered from botulism after dining in a famous wine bar in Bordeaux.
A 31-year-old woman did not survive and seven other customers of the Tchin Tchin Wine Bar, a restaurant popular with international customers, were hospitalized at the Bordeaux University Hospital.
The victim had taken advantage of a stay in the Bordeaux region to stop at this establishment with her husband. On his return to the Paris region, the thirty-year-old went to the emergency room to be treated, where she left without response.
She returned home where she died. Her husband had been hospitalized in intensive care in the same department.
Sardine manufacturing defect
This Tuesday, December 5, the manager of the establishment was placed in police custody in the premises of the city police station, we learned The Parisian. Information confirmed by the prosecution.
He had already been heard in open hearing before. His interrogation is carried out by the Bordeaux judicial police and the central office for combating attacks on the environment and public health (Oclaesp).
The products involved in this food poisoning are canned homemade sardines served between September 4 and 10 in this establishment, although it is well maintained according to investigators.
As early as September 11, the health services had spotted a “manufacturing defect in canned sardines“, indicated Thierry Touzet, from the departmental population protection directorate. The manager admitted to having had to throw away certain sardines which had “a strong smell“.
Several offenses charged
The other cans had been offered to customers. It turns out they were poorly sterilized. On September 15, a few days after this series of contaminations, the Bordeaux public prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation.
The restaurateur is potentially accused of several offenses: involuntary manslaughter, unintentional injuries and placing on the market foodstuffs harmful to health and sale of corrupted or toxic foodstuffs.
Botulism: what is it?
THE Clostridium botulinum are pathogenic bacteria for humans according to the Ministry of Agriculture. They only develop in the absence of oxygen, so vacuum-packed and canned foods are the most frequently contaminated (very often family preserves, vegetables, artisanal hams, sausages, dried or smoked fish, etc.).
The neurological condition can be serious and fatal in 5 to 10% of cases.
Botulism is a very rare disease, with 0.5 cases per million inhabitants per year in France, but it can lead to death if not treated in time.
Symptoms
The incubation time can be from a few hours to a few days.
Symptoms may include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, or even eye damage (failure to accommodate, blurred or double vision), dry mouth accompanied by difficulty swallowing. even speech, or neurological symptoms (wrong tracks, more or less severe paralysis of the muscles).
There is usually no fever.