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Actors of the administration, retail, agri-food, agriculture and ministers testified during the four months of investigation, as the boss Lactalis, long reluctant to come s' explain
In early June, Emmanuel Besnier tried to justify, step by step before the members of the commission, his management of the case in a tense atmosphere, conceding only an "accident" in the occurrence of this crisis . "It's an accident, there is no responsibility of people inside the plant", badured Mr. Besnier.
Both the search for salmonella in the factory of Craon (Mayenne) , made public in December 2017, that the chaotic process of withdrawal of milk from distribution channels have been open to criticism. They should therefore elicit proposals from parliamentarians.
The precedent of 2005
Lactalis had found twice traces of salmonella in the environment of the plant during internal controls in August and November 2017. But the Legislation only obliges manufacturers to warn the public authorities if Salmonellae are found directly in the products. State services have explained that the levies made by the administration from 2005 to 2017 "did not target the search for Salmonella type pathogens."
>> To read also: Lactalis: " I do not have billions in my portfolio "
However, in 2005, an outbreak of salmonellosis was already part of the same plant, which did not belong to Lactalis yet. The same salmonella agona bacterium was involved, and had contaminated 146 infants. During the hearings, the track of unification controls, currently separated between the Minister of Agriculture for upstream (livestock, etc.) and Bercy for downstream (distribution) was mentioned, but the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, said it was the opposite.
The process of recall / withdrawal of products has highlighted many dysfunctions, having unfolded in several phases and via erratic communication. "Learn, for two of the recalls, the information by a statement of Bercy, it is atypical, learn by a statement of Bercy the closure of the Craon plant, it is atypical, (…) not to happen to communicate in good conditions the reasons for withdrawals, it is atypical ", thus detailed the CEO of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard, auditioned before the same commission at the end of May. Intermarché badured that the first product recall was a risk of gastroenteritis and not Salmonella.
Restarting the production
Six months after this crisis, Lactalis was able to resume the production of infant milk early July , "without marketing at the moment and under the control of the inspection services", according to the Directorate General for Food (DGAL). The prefect again authorized the use of drying tower number 2 and packaging lines to produce infant milk powder, however, the site's number 1 drying tower, which had been contaminated with salmonella, was for its part permanently closed.
Despite the precautions of the Ministry as well as the manufacturer and the guarantees on pre-marketing controls, the Foodwatch consumer badociation that filed a complaint in February declared itself "shocked" by a such a decision.
"It is the reign of impunity to decide on the reopening of the factory while neither the conclusions of the preliminary judicial inquiry nor those of the parliamentary inquiry are yet known", declared to AFP Karine Jacquemart, general manager of Foodwatch
(with AFP)
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