~ Did not carry affected batches ~
PHILIPSBURG–Carrefour Market in St. Maarten has removed all of the Lactalis baby milk from its shelves after its supplier informed the establishment that the milk has been recalled.
The milk was recalled due to Salmonella infections. The families of three dozen children have fallen sick in France as a result of the contaminated baby milk and have announced a raft of lawsuits, an article from Reuters over the weekend said.
When asked whether Carrefour Market in St. Maarten carried the baby milk, representative Danny Ramchandani said: “We had, but once we received an email from supplier we took everything off [the shelves – Ed.] since last week. So we have none on sale since a week and we never had the problem reference numbers.”
Lactalis has pledged to compensate victims of a Salmonella contamination in its baby milk, but said a judicial investigation to determine who was responsible would continue.
Lactalis Chief Executive Emmanuel Besnier told the weekly Journal du Dimanche his family company, one of the world’s biggest dairies, would “pay damages to every family which has suffered a prejudice.”
Besnier’s promise came two days after Lactalis widened a product recall to cover all infant formula made at its Craon plant, regardless of the manufacture date, in a bid to contain the fallout from a health scare that risks damaging France’s strategic agribusiness in overseas markets.
The health scare intensified last week after France’s biggest retailers, including Carrefour, Auchan and Leclerc, admitted products recalled in December had still found their way onto shelves, the Reuters article said.
Implementing the global recall will be challenging. Privately owned Lactalis, one of the world’s biggest dairies, exports its baby food products to 83 countries across Europe, Africa and Asia. The recall involves some 12 million cans of baby milk.
Friday’s recall was the third in a month and Lactalis has come under fire for its clumsy response. Besnier also told the French weekly that the company had acted as quickly and efficiently as possible and denied slowing the process to curb losses.
Lactalis has become an industry giant, with annual sales of 17 billion euros ($20.73 billion) and 18,900 employees across some 40 countries. He said the Craon plant was likely to remain closed for several months.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/72762-carrefour-removes-recalled-french-milk-from-shelves
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