When eight-year-old Nathan Aïech sat down for a Friday night pizza with his father and stepfamily at their home outside Paris, it was their traditional “fun” weekend meal, reports The Guardian.
The family had bought Buitoni frozen pizza, its colourful packaging boasting of two centuries of Italian cuisine. It seemed better than cheaper supermarket options. “A child is always happy when it’s pizza for dinner,” said Yohan Aïech, Nathan’s father.
Nathan was a sporty child, in full health, who wanted to be a high-speed train driver. Two days after the meal he complained of a stomach ache. Within a week, he was fighting for his life in intensive care, with doctors saying his brain, heart and kidneys were compromised. After dialysis, surgery and two heart attacks, Nathan died on 18 February. French health authorities later confirmed that the E. coli bacteria infection and complications that killed him could be linked to the Buitoni pizza Fraîch’Up range.
Nathan was the first child to die in what is being called Europe’s biggest food scandal in 30 years. The E coli outbreak that killed two children and left more than a dozen with serious, long-lasting health complications has prompted fear in France’s food industry and panicked consumers.
At the heart of the controversy is Nestlé, one of the world’s biggest food conglomerates, which owns Buitoni as part of its array of brands from KitKat to Nespresso and Häagen-Dazs ice-cream. Nestlé, which has had various controversies in its long history – from the boycott over the marketing of formula milk for babies in developing countries in the 1970s to rows over bottled water extraction in North America – is now facing one of its biggest challenges.
“The pain we feel is indescribable,” Aïech said. “Nathan trusted his parents to feed him. I want Nestlé to explain to us how this happened and what will be put in place so it never happens again.”
A preliminary criminal investigation is under way for involuntary manslaughter, injury and breaches of food safety requirements. Now a group of 48 families, including 55 victims, have filed a 250-million-euro (£217m) civil suit for gross negligence against Nestlé France and are pressing to change the law for better controls in the food industry.