In total, 53 infants had been affected by salmonellosis in France at the end of 2017 after consuming a child’s product, mainly of Milumel or Picot brand, out of the Craon factory, located in Mayenne.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
The Lactalis group announced by press release, Thursday, February 16, having been indicted with the Celia Laiterie de Craon company for aggravated deception and involuntary injuries in the investigation into the contamination of the salmonella of infantile milks which affected dozens infants at the end of 2017.
More than four years after the opening of judicial information, in particular for deception and involuntary injuries, a representative of the two companies answered, Thursday, to the questions of a public health judge of the Paris judicial court. “All the employees and managers of the Lactalis group are fully aware of the tests experienced by families whose children have been sick and hopes that the reasons for this poisoning are fully lit,” commented the group on Wednesday, ensuring to cooperate ” in all transparency with the judicial authorities “.
In total, 53 identified infants had been affected by salmonellosis in France at the end of 2017 after consuming a product for children, mainly of Milumel or Picot brand, out of the Craon factory, located in Mayenne.
Salmonelloses are food poisoning, which range from benign gastroenteritis to more serious infections, especially for young children, the elderly or weakened. The withdrawal process had been chaotic and many dysfunctions that led to contamination had been uncovered.
After several weeks of crisis, the group, renowned for its culture of secrecy, had withdrawn mid-January 2018 all of its infantile milks produced in the incriminated factory, whose production had to be suspended for more than six months .
The company led by Emmanuel Besnier had said that contamination was explained by “work carried out running 1 er semester 2017″. But the site had already undergone contamination with salmonella in 2005. The Pasteur Institute then announced that it had reached the conclusion that the bacteria present in Craon had survived between 2005 and 2017.
Several hundred complaints have been filed and several dozen people were interviewed by the investigators. In October 2019, Mr. Besnier was heard as part of a police custody, from which he was released without pursuit.
According to an expertise rendered in October 2022 and paid to the file, whose AFP journalists were aware, “the company lacked vigilance or even clairvoyance with regard to the repeated negative signals which alerted to a loss of manufacturing safety “.