The Prato prosecutor's office has carried out searches of three top managers of the company that manages the canteens of some schools between Florence and Prato . The three are being investigated for negligent food poisoning and negligent injury .
On September 21, 2024 , 246 students and 23 adults from schools in Calenzano, Sesto Fiorentino, Campi Bisenzio, Barberino di Mugello, Carmignano, were affected by gastrointestinal syndrome from "suspected salmonella" . 98 went to the emergency room and 23 were hospitalized. The prosecutor's office hypothesizes that the cause of the poisoning is the raw cherry tomatoes used as an ingredient in the canteens but not disinfected .
The Prato prosecutor's office - which opened a file after the first seven cases were reported - is investigating the top management of the company that managed the school canteens. Over the months, accurate investigations have been carried out based on microbiological analysis and the reconstruction of the movements of production, procurement, and handling of food and beverages in the canteens and kitchens of the affected schools.
The poisonings, investigators explain, would have been caused by raw cherry tomatoes, an ingredient used in cold preparations of dishes even in the previous days. From the investigations, prosecutor Luca Tescaroli reports in a note, it emerged that the procedure for disinfecting the cherry tomatoes had been done "in a manner different" from the instructions of the manufacturer of the disinfectant 'Sanichlor Echolab' .
Today's searches of the three top managers of the company that manages the canteens are to look for traces, including computer ones, and documents that contribute to further delineating the activities of these school canteens between the Piana di Firenze, the Prato area and the Mugello.
(Online Union)