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French pasta boss acquitted on dead rat charges
French pasta boss acquitted on dead rat charges
Tuesday May 01, 2007
A French court of appeals on Monday acquitted a pasta company boss of charges of cheating customers which arose after a client found the remains of a dead rat in a packet of pasta.
In September 2006, a court in the southeastern city of Grenoble found Guy Callejon and his Panzani pasta company guilty of cheating customers after a man found a rodent in a packet made by the firm.
The court ordered them to pay 10,000 euros (13,600 dollars) in fines and 1,500 euros in damages to man. It also ordered the company to display the judgement on its website for a month.
But a court of appeals here decided Monday that although rat remains were definitely present in the packet of pasta, "to be punishable, the crime must arise from fraudulent intentions."
The factory where the pasta packets were made observed "draconian" standards for food safety, the court concluded.
AFP
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