The owner of a dairy company in Switzerland is facing felony costs a pair of deadly Listeria outbreak.
The public prosecutor’s build of enterprise in Schwyz launched this week that it had accomplished the felony investigation that had opened in August 2020 against the owner of a cheese manufacturing facility. Käserei Vogel became once closed by the industry owner in 2020.
Charges were introduced in 20 circumstances, including negligent homicide, negligent bodily damage, and violation of the Food Act. Complaints were dropped in 10 circumstances because Listeria infection did now not activate nicely being complications or because victims or their relatives had now not filed a felony criticism. In four circumstances, the non-public valuable aspects of these affected were now not identified.
The public prosecutor believes the corporate inadequately fulfilled its meals guidelines administration responsibilities. It has requested a conditional jail sentence and lovely for the industry owner. A trial date has now not but been set.
Incident background
The multi-300 and sixty five days Listeria outbreak in Switzerland killed 10 of us and became once linked to pasteurized cheese products. The outbreak also prompted 34 laboratory-confirmed circumstances. Outcomes of an investigation implicated the Käserei Vogel dairy.
In 2018, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Successfully being opened an investigation after listeriosis circumstances rose. Nevertheless, officers could also now not name a suspected meals, and the vehicle of infection remained unknown.
One more spike in infections occurred in early 2020. In April 2020, Käserei Vogel reported to the cantonal laboratory that it had detected Listeria monocytogenes in a sample of tender brie cheese manufactured from pasteurized milk. Entire-genome sequencing published that the cheese isolate matched the outbreak stress.
Environmental sampling on the production blueprint of Käserei Vogel found Listeria monocytogenes in 11 of 50 samples, and 5 sequenced isolates matched the outbreak stress. Officers found sanitation shortcomings and power environmental contamination all the diagram thru the production blueprint.
In Would possibly well well also simply 2020, 26 objects, including brie, sheep and goat cheese, and natural cheeses, were recalled, and production became once stopped. The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) issued a public warning in the identical month advising of us now to now not luxuriate in affected products.
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