A Dutch-based food depot that provided green meals using an online delivery service and electric vans was destroyed in a large fire on Sunday in the town of Almelo in the Netherlands.
The fire department called the fire “very serious” and had to mobilize several units to the scene to save a nearby building from burning as well. The fire is alleged by investigators to have been started by a short circuit in an electric van. They are still trying to find the exact cause, according to Dutch News.
The food depot housed products for the company Picnic, which is valued at over $1 billion and was founded in 2015. The company delivers groceries in 125 cities in Germany and the Netherlands and does it using electric deliver vans. Last year, the CEO of Picnic told a Dutch financial news site that most of the $604 million euros raised from investors to expand their operations in Europe came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. This is different than the philanthropic efforts of the separate entity the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Picnic is targeted at green supporters and sells meat substitutes and vegan-friendly options. There were no deaths among the 60 people that worked there.
People online pointed to potential arson or as retaliation against Bill Gates, who many seen in a negative light because of his large agricultural purchases in recent years.
When the story first hit the media, it was said that it produced meat alternatives on site with one post on twitter describing it as a “Bill Gates factory that makes synthetic lab grown meat goes up in flames.”
This is not true. Picnic’s press representation Martin Koolhoven told the AP that the fire was just in a food depot and that the claims online were false and there was no production onsite.
These claims went viral, though, when there are protests from thousands of farmers across the Netherlands demonstrating against the government’s attempt to regulate emissions from livestock. Some of the protestors have even blocked supermarket distribution centers, including another one operated by Picnic, said Koolhaven.
Eva Vlaardingerbroek reported on the farmers protest to Tucker Carlson and called it a fight against “their globalist agenda.”
Last month, Gates bought 2,100 acres of farmland in North Dakota. The purchase was ruled completely legal by investigators after locals in the area disapproved of the purchase.
The fire lit a match under several conspiracies. I don’t think there is one there, but it could be arson. Although, electric vehicles do cause massive fires and that could just as likely be the cause of the fire. Why do you think it caught fire was it retaliation against Gates or just a normal fire? Let us know your thoughts.
