The dairy group is implicated in the case of contaminated infant milk in 2017. The company is summoned Thursday, February 16 by an examining magistrate who can decide on its indictment. A new judicial advance eagerly awaited by the many plaintiffs.
Lactalis is summoned Thursday, February 16 by an investigating judge of the Paris court, five years after the case of infant milk contaminated with salmonella at the Craon factory in Mayenne. A representative of the Lactalis group and the production company will have to answer the judge’s questions.
STORY >> From the first salmonellosis to the public apology from Lactalis, the six weeks that sparked the tainted milk scandal
The health authorities had noted at least 37 contaminations of infants at the end of 2017. There are thousands, according to the association of victims of contaminated milk. Thursday’s interrogation is a crucial step after these five years of investigation. Perhaps the first indictment in this case if Lactalis is prosecuted after the interview with the investigating judge.
“We can’t wait for things to move forward”
It’s time, explains Quentin Guillemain, father of a little girl who had consumed this contaminated milk and president of the victims’ association: “Today we have children who were only a few months old and now often return to CP-CE1, so obviously we are impatient for things to move forward.”
“What we expect is that five years later we are finally told that we are targeting a certain number of people as being responsible, those for whom we can imagine sanctions tomorrow.”
Quentin Guillemain, President of the Association for Children’s Healthat franceinfo
After the first reports, the authorities order the recall of the offending batches. They take time to be removed from the market. Several families then denounced a lack of transparency, which led Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, to intervene in January 2018: “I invited the president of Lactalis to show more transparency, and as soon as these causes of the contamination are known, to communicate them publicly as soon as possible. Bruno Le Maire had offered the help of state services to shed light on this affair.
“We need a trial”
There are at least 150 civil parties in this case. Since 2017, more than 300 complaints have been filed. And among these complaints, there is that of the NGO Foodwatch. Five years after the start of the scandal, the organization has high expectations today. “The company has to be accountable and we have to go to trialexplains Ingrid Kragl, spokesperson for the NGO. The criminal court must judge this case and above all, the sanctions will have to be exemplary and dissuasive.
“It’s not enough, excuses, we need exemplary sanctions that will send a strong signal to those who would like to play with the health of consumers.”
Ingrid Kragl, spokesperson for Foodwatchat franceinfo
In January 2023, the Lactalis group reiterated its messages of compassion explaining that the “Lactalis group is fully aware of the hardships experienced by the families whose children have been ill and wishes that the reasons for this poisoning be fully clarified”.