More than five years after the scandal of salmonella contamination of infant milk which affected dozens of children, the Lactalis group and its subsidiary which manufactured the milk boxes were indicted on Thursday in particular for aggravated deception and involuntary injuries.
Summoned by a judge from the public health department of the Paris court, the Lactalis group and the company Celia de Craon (Mayenne) were also indicted for non-execution of withdrawal and recall measures, announced the number one French milk company in a statement.
They were placed under judicial supervision with a bond of 300,000 euros each, confirmed a judicial source.
“This step marks the start of the judicial investigation, in which Lactalis will fully and transparently engage”, assured Lactalis, for whom “the challenge of this procedure is to allow the manifestation of scientific truth in this file. industrial complex”.
In total, several dozen infants had been infected with salmonellosis in France at the end of 2017 after consuming a product for children, mainly of the Milumel or Picot brand, released from the Craon factory.
Public Health France had identified 36 infants who consumed, in France, milk produced by Lactalis “in the three days preceding the date of onset of their symptoms”.
Salmonellosis is food poisoning that ranges from mild gastroenteritis to more serious infections, especially for young children, the elderly or debilitated.
The withdrawal process had been chaotic and many malfunctions that led to contamination had been uncovered.
After several weeks of crisis, the group, renowned for its culture of secrecy, had withdrawn in mid-January 2018 all of its infant milk produced in the offending factory, the production of which had to be suspended for more than six months.
The company headed by Emmanuel Besnier had claimed that the contamination was explained by “work carried out during the first half of 2017”.
But the site had already been contaminated with salmonella in 2005. The Institut Pasteur then announced that it had come to the conclusion that the bacteria present in Craon had survived between 2005 and 2017.
Several hundred complaints – including a large number for aggravated deception – have been filed and several dozen people have been interviewed by investigators.
In October 2019, Mr. Besnier was heard in police custody, from which he emerged without prosecution.
– “First steps” towards a trial? –
“These indictments and this important consignment prove the existence of serious and consistent elements in this file”, reacted to AFP Me Jade Dousselin, who defends the Association for the health of children, formerly Association des families of victims of milk contaminated with salmonella (AFVLCS).
For the lawyer, “this is a first step towards a conviction of those responsible for this major health scandal”.
“We hope that those responsible for this health scandal which affects children will be quickly sent back to the criminal court”, commented Me François Lafforgue, lawyer for the Foodwatch association, who had filed a complaint.
“Foodwatch demands justice for contaminated babies but also exemplary and dissuasive sanctions in order to put an end to the climate of impunity” in which food companies operate, declared for her part Ingrid Kragl, spokesperson for the NGO.
According to an expert report rendered in October 2022 and added to the file, of which AFP journalists were aware, “the company lacked vigilance or even clairvoyance vis-à-vis the repeated negative signals which alerted to a loss of security. of manufacturing”.
“But the file in no way leads to the conclusion that the company would not have respected its pre-established commitments to comply with the requirements of the regulations (…) or that it would have marketed before December 1 (2017 , editor’s note) of the products knowing that they were contaminated with salmonella following a self-checking analysis”, however add the experts.
They also believe that the corrective actions taken on the site were “relevant”, while considering that they “were not sufficient to achieve the expected result of product safety”.