foodwatch France is fighting back by filing two new complaints on Wednesday 25 September, this time as a civil party. While the Epinal Public Prosecutor’s Office – to which the foodwatch criminal complaint filed in Paris in February was transferred – has just swept under the carpet any public action against Nestlé Waters Grand Est by invoking a Public Interest Judicial Agreement (CJIPE), foodwatch has refused Nestlé’s money and strongly criticised this procedure which allows the multinational to get away with breaking the law. The consumer organisation is not resigned to burying the case of a massive fraud that has affected the whole world for decades, particularly through the marketing of the famous Perrier water. Two new complaints have been lodged with the Paris court against Nestlé and the Sources Alma group, which produces Cristaline, the best-selling water in France. The injection of carbon dioxide into Chateldon’s ‘naturally sparkling’ water, the use of iron sulphate to reduce the presence of arsenic at the St-Yorre and Vichy-Célestins sites, the organised fraud using treatments that have been illegal at Nestlé for decades, the lack of transparency about the health risk, the responsibility of the authorities who have chosen to remain silent: the offences, including deception, highlighted by Foodwatch are even more serious than in its previous complaint in February. In the face of this massive fraud, the organisation is calling for the urgent appointment of an investigating judge, an end to impunity and exemplary penalties.
Read the full statement on the website of Foodwatch France (in French)
