A dozen cases of botulism, one death and a bar examined closely. This Tuesday, the lawyer of the manager of the Tchin Tchin Wine Bar, an establishment in Bordeaux suspected of being at the origin of the ten cases of botulism detected in mid-September in France, spoke on LCI.
Stéphane Guitard assured that the restaurateur “is evidently aware of what happened, of the seriousness of the health situation of these people.” Several had to be admitted to intensive care and a 32-year-old woman died in Ile-de-France.
The sterilization process in question.
All of these people have in common the fact that they ate homemade canned sardines at the same restaurant, Tchin Tchin Wine Bar, between September 4 and 10 in Bordeaux, according to health authorities. The owner of the bar “has many doubts about how the sterilization process was developed” and the “consequences that this could have had on these homemade sardine jars,” his lawyer told LCI on Tuesday.
The restaurateur had been manufacturing jars since 2021 and told investigators “he had manufactured about 150 jars of sardines that he sold to customers and with which there were never any difficulties,” according to Me Guitard.
A “human error”?
According to him, he only served bottles that “had no smell,” his lawyer also stated. These jars were useful, “it may have been human error, but I had the feeling that they were clean,” adds Guitard. The restaurateur admitted that four of his homemade jars had a particular smell, but assured that they were not served to customers.
In mid-September, the deputy director of the Departmental Directorate for Population Protection (DDPP), Thierry Touzet, declared that “there was no longer any doubt about the causal relationship” between canned sardines served in the bar and the appearance of symptoms in the affected. individuals. The DDPP found “a real lack of control of the canning process” with a “very artisanal mode of operation” that must be improved.
A fatal disease in 5 to 10% of cases.
Botulism is a rare and serious neurological disease caused by a very powerful toxin, produced by a bacteria that develops especially in poorly preserved foods due to a lack of sufficient sterilization.
It causes eye problems (double vision), difficulty swallowing and, in advanced forms, paralysis of the muscles, especially the respiratory muscles, which can cause death. According World Health Organization (WHO), UN agency, botulism can be fatal in between 5 and 10% of cases.
An open investigation
The Bordeaux prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “homicide and involuntary injuries.” This preliminary investigation, which also refers to facts of “marketing of foods harmful to health” and “sale of corrupt or toxic foods”, was entrusted to the judicial police, the Central Office to Combat Attacks on the Environment and public health and the departmental direction of population protection.
Today, the owner of the Tchin Tchin Wine Bar “thinks above all about the people who have been victims of this botulism”, but “he is also worried about his personal situation” and fears having to permanently close his establishment, according to his lawyer. .
Source: BFM TV
