The owner of a restaurant in Bordeaux was taken into police custody on Tuesday, December 5, as part of the investigation launched in September into 15 cases of botulism, including one fatality, linked to canned sardines, he said. We found out from the public prosecutor’s office.

This is the manager of the wine bar Tchin-Tchin Wine Bar in the center of Bordeaux, said prosecutor Frédérique Porterie to Agence France-Presse, confirming information from the Parisian. The prosecutor’s office added that it would announce the end of police custody on Wednesday.

This arrest is made as part of the investigation “Murder and accidental bodily harm”“Putting on the market of food harmful to health” and “Sale of spoiled or poisonous food”, which opened in mid-September after several cases of botulism appeared among customers of this popular tourist establishment.

Fifteen customers identified

The investigation was entrusted to the criminal police, the Central Office for Combating Attacks on the Environment and Public Health (Oclaesp) and the Departmental Directorate for Civil Protection. Depending on the leader, the penalties imposed range from two to five years in prison and a fine of 45,000 to 600,000 euros.

A total of fifteen customers of the implicated restaurant were identified, including some of American, Canadian, Irish, Greek, British and German nationalities “Suspected cases of botulism”. A 32 year old woman is dead According to prosecutors, at her home in Paris after showing up at hospitals.

What all of these people have in common is that between September 4th and 10th they ate homemade canned sardines in this restaurant in Bordeaux, a city that was then hosting the first two matches of the 2023 Rugby World Cup (Ireland-Romania and Wales). . -Fiji).

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the French investigation using credit card receipts found that about 25 people were exposed, meaning they likely consumed the suspect food.

Botulism is a rare and serious neurological disease, fatal in 5 to 10% of cases, caused by a very strong toxin produced by a bacterium that develops, particularly in poorly preserved foods, due to lack of adequate sterilization.

It causes eye problems (double vision), difficulty swallowing and, in advanced forms, paralysis of the muscles, particularly the respiratory muscles, which can lead to death.