PARIS: A salmonella scandal at French dairy group Lactalis has affected 83 countries, where 12 million boxes of powdered baby milk are being recalled, the company’s CEO said on Sunday (Jan 14) in an interview with French media. There have been reports of 35 French children getting salmonella poisoning after drinking contaminated milk powder made by diary giant Lactalis AFP/DAMIEN MEYER Emmanuel Besnier, scion of the secretive family behind one of the world’s biggest dairy groups, was speaking publicly for the first time since an outcry erupted over claims the company hid the salmonella outbreak at a plant making the product. “We must take account the scale of this operation: more than 12 million boxes are affected,” he said, adding that distributors would no longer have to sort through the produce to find the contaminated powder. “They know that everything has to be removed from the shelves,” Besnier said. Besnier, who was summoned to the French finance ministry on Friday, promised compensation for all the families affected. He said that the consequences of this health crisis for consumers, including babies under six months, were at the forefront of his mind. “It is for us, for me, a great concern,” he told the Journal du Dimanche. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against the group by families who say their children got salmonella poisoning after drinking powdered milk made by the company. So far French officials have reported 35 cases of infants getting salmonella from the powder, while one case has… [Read full story]
Unscrupulous companies make substandard milk abroad to trick Vietnamese families who don't trust local products Dang Minh Sang, deputy director of Manh Cam Company, displays the label of a can of Danlait, a goat milk product, of which it is the sole distributor in Vietnam. Allegations have arisen that several foreign brands of formula in Vietnam are in fact local companies that produce low-quality products abroad for cheap and sell them here for a premium. Last month it came to light that Manh Cam Company had been producing cheap supplemental baby formula abroad and selling it here at high prices…... [read more]
Parents sending their children to kindergartens in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are anxious about the milk given to their kids in the wake of the melamine contamination scare. At Coop. Mart supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1, Ha Phuc said though she gave her 18-monthold child well-known brands of baby formula, she did not feel secure. Only when the government announced which brands are safe would she stop worrying, she said. Meanwhile, government inspectors are continuing to carry out checks of milk products nationwide. On the nutrition forum at www.webtretho.com, a mother said she only bought…... [read more]
The government should ensure Vietnam is not a place where "anything goes," Dr. Marjatta Tolvanen-Ojutkangas, Chief of Child Survival and Development Section, UNICEF Vietnam, and Dr. Jean-Marc Olivé of the World Health Organization told Thanh Nien Weekly. Four years after the government decree on Marketing and Use of Nutrition Products for Young Children, how would you assess its impact on the breastfeedingpromotion campaign in Vietnam? Jean-Marc Olivé (L), World Health Organization representative for Vietnam; Marjatta Tolvanen-Ojutkangas, Chief of Child Survival and Development Section, UNICEF Vietnam Marjatta Tolvanen-Ojutkangas: The decree is action in the right direction but there are obvious obstacles…... [read more]
by Thu HuongWhen the Danlait milk scandal was broken by weary mothers, it barely came as a surprise.In mid-February, one mother in HaNoi started posting her suspicions about Danlait baby milk in online forums for young parents. According to her, after drinking Danlait milk for two months, her then-six-month-old baby started losing weight and experiencing slow teething. The milk was advertised in Viet Nam as a product from one of Europe's top milk companies. However, when she consulted friends and relatives in France, she found that they had never heard of Danlait milk. An investigation revealed that the local importer…... [read more]
The caps, set to take effect on June 11, are 10-15 per cent lower than the current wholesale prices of the products and, in some cases, 20 per cent lower than market rates.— Photo khampha Compiled by Thien Ly In late April the finance ministry examined the country's five largest formula milk producers and decided to cap the prices of the 25 most popular products in an attempt to protect consumers. The five companies — Vinamilk, Nestle Vietnam, Mead Johnson Vietnam, Friesland Campina Vietnam, and 3A Nutrition Vietnam, the authorized distributor of Abbott — together hold 90 per cent of…... [read more]
