Lactalis recalls 12 million packs of baby milk

Dairy manufacturer Lactalis is in the eye of the storm in France, because its baby milk has been contaminated with salmonella. It had to recall 12 million packs across 83 countries.

35 infected babies

Over the past few months, 35 French babies were infected with salmonella after they had used a Lactaclis product. There have also been contaminations in Spain and Greece. “We are talking about babies younger than six months, which obviously worries us greatly. We have been told that they are all doing well now, which is the most important. Every family will receive a financial compensation”, CEO Emmanuel Besnier said according to De Standaard.

The first cases were already known more than a month ago, but the CEO only published a statement on the scandal now after he was called into Minister of Economic Affairs Bruno Le Maire’s office. “Perhaps I should have given a public statement earlier, but you want to act first in such a crisis situation”, Besnier said.

2,000 packs sold anyway

It became clear in early December that several batches had to be taken out of stores because of possible contamination. Nevertheless, 30 supermarkets, 44 apothecaries, 12 hospitals and 2 baby daycare facilities still sold or used the baby milk. In total, some 2,000 packs were still used or sold.

After it had conferred with the ministry, Lactalis decided to recall all baby milk from the contaminated factory, which meant 12 million packs. “This way, retailers will not have to look for which to sell and which to return. They simply know they have to return everything”, Besnier said.