The corned beef manufacturer Covi was sentenced Wednesday to 187,500 euro fine for deception, for using it ten years ago the meat unfit for consumption, and Charal Arcadia and suppliers were sentenced to 80,000 and 50,000 euro fine for complicity.
the 31st chamber of the Paris court has convicted Covi, whose headquarters is located in Bressuire (Deux-Sèvres), the maximum penalty to material time.
Its CEO Patrice Bourigault has meanwhile been sentenced to six months suspended prison sentence and 10,000 euro fine.
Between late 2006 and late 2007, five checks had revealed that 85 tons of meat had serious defects. In total, 996,000 cans of corned beef had been recalled.
Four suppliers were indicted, but two of them, and Soviba Defial, having more legal existence, following a merger for the first and a transfer of assets for the second, those companies could not be referred to the court.
after court information, justice had held that the mere deception because it was clear that if the experts have established “the presence of toxic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) in some boxes, they could not determine” that they “were toxin producers in sufficient quantities to pose a risk to human health”, said the court in its decision
-. Meat “slightly green” –
However, felt the judges, it is well established that the meat in question were unfit for consumption, as evidenced by “the presence of slightly green abscess or meatloaf color + +” found by the veterinary services.
the mobile deception was “simply from the hearings Covi staff, concern for competitiveness of the company by lowering the cost price, which seemed to be at the heart of concerns” its CEO Patrice Bourigault, notes the court.
About Charal, the court stressed that the company “knew perfectly well that Covi only produced canned for human consumption and if Covi bought meat corrupt, it was not to send them to rendering, or to feed the animals. ” By selling such meat, Charal breached its “duty first” to “guarantee the quality and safety of products” on the market.
According to investigators, Charal sold between 2004 and 2006 some 222 tons of the meat, for 245,126 euros, where they are sent to rendering would have cost 27,845 euros.
the company said in a statement that “the materials provided by Charal (… ) were all destroyed as a precaution and have therefore not been commercialized. ” “Charal take knowledge more thoroughly the decision” and “will be determined after the analysis of follow-up,” she said.
As an additional penalty, the court further sentenced the defendants to pay the publication of the judgment in the magazine Que Choisir, once the decision became final.
They were also ordered to pay 5,000 euros in damages to the Confederation of consumption, housing and living environment (CLCV) under the injury caused to the collective interest of consumers.
Approached by AFP at the end of the deliberations, the defendants’ lawyers have no wish to comment.
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