A French court of appeals on Monday acquitted a pasta-company boss of charges of cheating customers that arose after a client found the remains of a dead rat in a packet of pasta.
In September last year, a court in the south-eastern 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 in fines and €1 500 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 on 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. — Sapa-AFP