After finding a maggot in his fries at Quick, this customer is doomed for his comments on Facebook

Belgium

The civil court in Liège on Tuesday condemned a dissatisfied customer of Seraing Quick who had broadcast on Facebook comments not proven and denigrating with regard to this fast food.

The case broke out after the discovery of a maggot in a bag of fries and whose origin was unknown. The client had published a video viewed 132,000 times in three days.

On March 13, 2017, a man had arrived with his daughter at Seraing's Quick Drive and had bought a menu of hamburger and fries. During the meal consumed at home, the girl had discovered a food moth larva in the bag of french fries.

The father had filmed the maggot found in food and broadcast the video on the social network Facebook. In three days, the video had been viewed 132,000 times. It had been removed at the request of the manager of the Quick, who formally challenged the origin of the maggot found in the food.

Following complaints from people who had viewed the video, the establishment had been screened by the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (Afsca), which had produced a favorable report. The shopkeeper then estimated that she had been the victim of a defamation campaign and had lost part of her turnover.

In its judgment, the civil court referred to freedom of expression but also its limits. The judge found that the disgruntled customer had engaged in the dissemination of unproven and denigrating comments on Facebook. This is an act of publicity that has had a harmful effect from the first moments of publication.

The dissatisfied customer was ordered to pay the manager of the Quick the sum of 1,000 euros in damages and interest as well as procedural costs for a little more than 800 euros.