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Four months of investigation made it possible to audition actors from the administration, retail, agribusiness, agriculture and ministers, but especially the boss of Lactalis, long reluctant to come
At the beginning of June, Emmanuel Besnier tried to justify, step by step in front of the deputies and senators, his management of the business in a tense atmosphere, conceding only an "accident" in the occurrence of this crisis.
"It's an accident, there is no responsibility for people inside the factory," Besnier had badured him.
Still looking for salmonella in the Craon plant (Mayenne), made public in December 2017 and the chaotic process of withdrawal of milk in sales places have been open to criticism. They should therefore elicit proposals from parliamentarians.
– 2005 precedent –
Already in 2005, an outbreak of salmonellosis was part of the same plant, which did not belong to Lactalis yet. The same salmonella agona bacteria was involved, and had contaminated 146 infants.
In August and November 2017, Lactalis had twice detected traces of salmonella in the plant environment during internal controls. But the legislation obliges the industrialists to prevent the public authorities only if salmonella is discovered directly in the products.
According to the services of the State, the levies carried out by the administration from 2005 to 2017 did not "target search for Salmonella-type pathogens. "
At the hearings, the track for a unification of controls, currently separated between the Minister of Agriculture for the upstream (breeding, etc.) and Bercy for the downstream (distribution) was mentioned, but the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, was opposed to it.
The process of recall / withdrawal of products also highlighted numerous dysfunctions, being unfolded in several phases and via erratic communication.
"To learn, for two of the recalls, information by a Bercy press release, it is atypical; to learn by a Bercy press release the closure of the Craon plant is atypical; (…) failing to communicate in good conditions the reasons for withdrawal, it's atypical, "said the CEO of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard, during his hearing by the commission at the end of May.
Intermarché badured that the first product recall was a risk of gastroenteritis and not Salmonella.
– Restart of production –
Six months after this crisis, Lactalis was able to resume infant milk production in early July, "without marketing at the moment and under the control of the inspection services", according to the Directorate General for Food (DGAL). 19659002] The prefect authorized the re-commissioning of the drying tower N. 2 and packaging lines to produce infant milk powder, however, the drying tower N. 1 of the site, which had been contaminated by salmonella, is permanently closed.
Despite the precautions of the Ministry as well as the industry and guarantees on pre-marketing controls, the consumer badociation Foodwatch, which lodged a complaint in February, declared itself "shocked" by Such a decision
"It is the reign of impunity to decide on the reopening of the factory when neither the conclusions of the preliminary judicial investigation nor those of the investigation are still not known, "Karine Jacquemart, Executive Director of Foodwatch, told AFP.
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