France’s Lactalis says will pay damages as CEO admits 83 countries affected by tainted baby milk scare
The recall risks damaging Lactalis in China, a fast-growing market for baby food and dairy products where scares after melamine-tainted baby milk led to the deaths of six children in 2008
A salmonella scandal at French dairy group Lactalis has affected 83 countries, where 12 million boxes of powdered baby milk are being recalled, the company’s CEO said.
Emmanuel Besnier, scion of the secretive family behind one of the world’s biggest dairy groups, was speaking publicly for the first time since an outcry erupted over claims the company hid the salmonella outbreak at a plant making the product.
“We must take account the scale of this operation: more than 12 million boxes are affected,” he said, adding that distributors would no longer have to sort through the produce to find the contaminated powder.
“They know that everything has to be removed from the shelves,” Besnier said.
The recall risks damaging Lactalis in China, a fast-growing market for baby food and dairy products where scares after melamine-tainted baby milk led to the deaths of six children in 2008.
That scandal caused distrust in locally produced infant formula and benefited foreign suppliers such as Nestle, Danone and Lactalis.