This month of August will be three years since the case of the Magrudis brand contaminated shredded meat that caused the largest outbreak of listeriosis in the history of Europe, and it is now that the judge investigating the case has just concluded the investigation. the instructor charges the owners of the Andalusian company and declares civil liability to the City Council of Sevilla.
The listeria outbreakwhich later spread to other products made by the same company, was associated with an initial focus located in a roving machine that would probably spread the contamination to other tools and machinery in the factory.
This outbreak of listeriosis ended up being the largest in the history of Spain and all of Europe, with 244 people affected with symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea and fever, causing four direct deaths and six abortions in pregnant women.
The seriousness of the case and the slowness on the part of the administrations in acting accordingly with the initial information that was available, has led the instructor to also prosecute the municipal veterinarian and the Seville City Council for “for an alleged poor and abnormal performance of the public service to be provided”, as well as to the Insurance Company AXA SA
It should be remembered that the Listeria outbreak broke out when he was mayor of Seville John Swordsfrom the PSOE, who recently left the consistory to run as the PSOE’s candidate for the presidency of Andalusia.
In the order published last Wednesday, the judge agreed to continue the proceedings against five of those investigated for a crime against public health, four crimes of reckless homicidesix crimes of injury to the fetus due to gross negligence resulting in abortion and 244 crimes of injury due to gross negligence.
The instructor of the case has decided to continue the legal proceedings, in addition to against the family that owns Magrudis and the veterinarian, against the architect accused of document forgery crime in an official document, and to the company’s advisor for a minor crime of fraud of the electrical fluid when knowing the existence of an illegal hitch.
It has been calculated that the Expenses generated for the outbreak of listeriosis in the public health system amounted to about €800,000and if the civil liability of the City Council is confirmed after the next oral trial is held, they must assume the compensation requested by those affected and the total health cost derived from the case, encrypted in €3.4 million.
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