France announces extended recall of Lactalis diary products

PARIS, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Dairy giant Lactalis will extend a product recall to all baby food produced in its factory hit by a contamination scandal, French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire said on Friday.

"Lactalis will take back every single box of baby dairy products manufactured in the site of Craon (in northwestern France), regardless of the (production) date," the minister told a press conference following a meeting with Lactalis executives.

Lactalis, one of the largest diary product manufacturers worldwide, made the nationwide recall in December 2017 after one of the factory's assembly lines was found contaminated with salmonella.

The initial recall only concerned products made since February 2017.

Le Maire fired harsh criticism against Lactalis before the press conference, calling it a "failing company."

"If there had been a little more responsibility from the Lactalis side, this situation would not occur," he said.

On Thursday, Le Maire announced that 2,500 additional checks would be launched across France next week to make sure that all products concerned were removed from shelves.

Earlier this week, several major French retailers, including Carrefour, E. Leclerc, Auchan, Casino, Intermarche and Systeme U, admitted having sold suspected products in spite of the recall.

In December 2017, at least 35 infants in France fell ill after being fed tainted products.

Salmonella symptoms include diarrhoea, fever, vomiting and abdominal pain, and are extremely dangerous for infants. Enditem