Yahoo – AFP,
January 15, 2018
Paris (AFP) - Pressure rose on French dairy giant Lactalis on Monday as the parents of babies who became sick after drinking salmonella-laced milk demanded answers over a scare affecting dozens of countries.
Quentin Guillemain, president of the Lactalis victim's association, said the explanations given by the Lactalis boss fell far short of expectations (AFP Photo/Eric FEFERBERG) |
Paris (AFP) - Pressure rose on French dairy giant Lactalis on Monday as the parents of babies who became sick after drinking salmonella-laced milk demanded answers over a scare affecting dozens of countries.
Lactalis
CEO Emmanuel Besnier said at the weekend that more than 12 million packages of
Picot, Milumel, Celia and other brands of powdered baby milk had been recalled
in 83 countries and offered to compensate all the affected families.
An
association of victim's families, which met with the government on Monday, has
rejected the offer, accusing Lactalis of trying to buy their silence.
The
association's president Quentin Guillemain said Monday the explanations given
by Besnier in an interview Sunday -- his first since the outbreak in December
-- fell far short of expectations.
"We
still don't know where they are, we don't know if they have been destroyed or
if they've been drunk," he said.
He said it
also remained unclear when the salmonella outbreak at Lactalis's Craon plant in
western France first occurred, suggesting it could have been before 2017, the
period initially covered by the recall announced in December.
"It's
a question we asked once again, and as of now we have not had any
response," said Guillemain, who has demanded an apology from Lactalis.
His group
has disputed health authorities' tally of 37 children sickened by the
salmonella outbreak in France, saying that without systematic testing of babies
brought to doctors, the true figure remains unknown.
Hundreds of
families have filed lawsuits against the company.
Anger has
been growing since it emerged that Lactalis's own tests had discovered
salmonella at the Craon site in August and November, but did not report the
findings because it had no legal obligation to do so.
Besnier
denied claims that Lactalis had lied about the dates and number of stocks
affected by the salmonella outbreak.
"At no
point was there any intention of hiding things," he said.
Government
spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said Sunday the company's explanations were
insufficient.
"When
you have a case of milk on the market which has clearly caused complicated
health problems for children, it means at some point there was
negligence," Griveaux said.
Parents of babies who became sick after drinking salmonella-laced milk demand answers from Lactalis https://t.co/Cq9KKs2XDV pic.twitter.com/2mui1LaAYz— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 15, 2018
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