Illustration of justice. – Allili Mourad / SIPA
The mystery of the boxes of tapenade abandoned in the forest solved? A member of a Valenciennois charity is behind the illegal dumping of hundreds of unsold food in a forest and along a northern canal, which sparked outrage and triggered the opening of an investigation on Wednesday, we learned this Friday from the prosecution.
Discarded expired products
These products had been handed over by the distributors to an association to help people in difficulty in Valenciennois but as their consumption date had passed, “a person from this association was responsible for delivering them to a farm so that they could be consumed by of animals, ”Cécile Gressier, the procurator of the Republic of Avesnes-sur-Helpe, told AFP. “This person failed to make contact with the owners of the farm and took the personal initiative to throw them into the forest,” she said. “He made several round trips to the two sites that were identified to get rid of the products.”
“He recognizes the totality of the facts and says not to have acted on instruction”, she underlined, specifying that the investigations were continuing to determine if it was a volunteer or an employee of this association. . For this fifth class fine, the most severely punished, he incurs a fine of 1,500 euros. The products found in the Mormal forest, in the Avesnois Regional Nature Park, were among others frozen products, fruits and vegetables from Carrefour and Repère de Leclerc brand products. The Mormal Forêt Agir association warned on social networks on Tuesday of the presence of this waste and filed a complaint.
Discovery in the Forêt de Mormal of expired unsold products: sandwiches, ice creams, pasta, frozen foods … The Mormal Forêt Agir association has lodged a complaint. The gendarmes will try to trace the route of the products @ALCattelot @DipompeoChrist https://t.co/wnsnbX1FYg pic.twitter.com/Tv9DIylQDA
– ⭐️⭐️ (@thibautpaquit) August 18, 2020
At the same time, a thousand boxes of tapenade had been discovered Sunday in the town of Estrun, about twenty kilometers west of the Mormal forest, on a path along the Scheldt canal, according to the prosecutor’s office in Cambrai. The Minister of Agriculture and Food, Julien Denormandie, had asked on Twitter that “all the light” be made “on this unacceptable act and the sanctions taken. “
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