Lactalis, salmonella to infants. 12 million packages of baby food, 11 months’ worth of production by a major French manufacturer, recalled in 83 countries. If ever an example was needed to show that the system guarding food safety in Europe is in urgent need of reform, here it is!
Lactalis, salmonella to infants. Chronicle of a disaster
Timing, in managing food security crises, is a crucial factor. The shorter the interval between the news (or suspicion) of danger and the activation of the necessary emergency procedures, (1) the fewer the casualties. A concept that is clear to everyone, or almost everyone.
The Craon (Mayenne) plant of the Lactalis group, according to initial investigations, found salmonella contamination on powdered milk intended for early childhood as early as Feb. 15, 2017. Last year!
However, the crisis was addressed at least 10 months too late. The bulletin of a global disaster:
2.12.17. The Direction générale de la santé (DGS) announces the recall of several batches of infant milk, marketed under three different brands of the Lactalis group, following salmonella poisoning of 20 infants (<6 months) in 8 regions of France.
10.12.17. Extension of the recall to a larger number of production lots (625).
21.12.17. Lactalis announces further extension of the recall to another 740 lots. The entire production of the Craon plant is effectively recalled as of 2/15/17. Almost one year of industrial activity, 1,345 batches, 12 million packages.
22.12.17. Prosecutor’s office in Paris launches culpable injury investigation . And it is only the latest of several investigations that have affected the group.
3.1.18. The weekly satirical Canard enchaîné reveals news of an inspection of the Craon plant by local inspection authorities, (2) in September 2017, with favorable results. Superficiality or forgery in public records?
9.1.18. Leclerc, France’s first large-scale retail (supermarket) chain, admits that it failed to prevent the marketing of 984 of the packages subject to the recall.
Salmonella in Craon, the most serious suspects
The strain of salmonella at the center of the current crisis, according to experts at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, can be traced back to the one that forced the closure of the plant itself in 2005. But in the 12 years since, has it ever been eradicated? It is worth pointing out that the plant is dedicated to the production of baby food, where attention to food safety must strive for perfection. (3)
The news about hygienic conditions of the Lactalis plant in Craon are anything but comforting. Sterile are only the empty words of the group’s leaders. While various sources-not least the eloquent statement to French TV by a former employee – refer to filth that is completely inconsistent with the type of workmanship.
Lactalis is the third largest producer in the world in the dairy industry, after Nestlé and Danone, with 246 factories in 47 countries, 75,000 employees. Sales, with a total value of 17.5 billion euros, take place in 150 countries (58 percent in Europe, 21 percent in America, 14 percent in Oceania, 7 percent in Africa). In Italy, Lactalis owns Parmalat and Galbani (of which we in turn recently reported a
fraud in trade
).
The crisis of the system
The system of public controls officials on the food supply chain continue to show the ropes. Now in France, as in recent months in Belgium and the Netherlands (with Fipronil
), and already in the Netherlands and Germany withhepatitis E
in fresh pork.
Europe is silent, Instead of running for cover. As it should be, introducing measures of absolute strictness on member states who fail in their responsibilities to ensure the safety of the food supply chain. Keeping in mind that it is not only the health of individuals that is at stake, but also the reputation of the first manufacturing sector in the creaking united Europe.
Infractions on official public controls should be punished on a par with those on public budgets in the euro area. And more measures are needed immediately, as we have repeatedly pointed out.
For further study, we point out the
free ebook ‘
Food safety, between mandatory rules and voluntary standards
‘
.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Immediate must be the commercial recall of unsafe food, notification to the health authority and communication to consumers. When other measures are found to be inadequate to ensure a high level of food safety-as in this case-a public recall is essential. Cf. reg. EC 178/02, so-called General Food Law, Article 19
(2) Direction départementale de la cohésion sociale et de la protection des populations (DDCSPP)
(3) Because of the peculiar vulnerability of infants and early childhood to pathogenic bacteria, such as precisely salmonella
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
