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 Lactalis, one of the world's largest dairy groups, had to recall 12
million tins in France and around the world due to the
contamination, in a scandal that hit the reputation of France's
strategic agri-business industry in overseas markets.
"The tower number 2 has resumed since Sunday for test phases. We
want to check, control, inspect, analyze to make sure that
everything is compliant," a Lactalis spokeswoman said.
"Since Sunday the results have been compliant, which is a rather
positive step," he said.
The plant had been halted since December after discovering the
contamination in baby milk produced in the production tower number
1, which the group permanently shut due to the outbreak.
None of the products made at the plant will be sold on the market
before farm ministry approval, the spokeswoman said. Output is
limited to powder milk for adults for the moment.
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More than 200 babies in France have been contaminated with
Salmonella Agona since 2005, including 38 between mid-August and
December last year, as well as 25 between 2006 and 2017 and 141 in
2005, said the Institut Pasteur, a French organization that monitors
micro-organisms and diseases.
Lactalis CEO Emmanuel Besnier said in February that Lactalis could
have been producing salmonella-tainted baby milk at the factory in
Craon since 2005.
The crisis was likely to cost the company hundreds of millions of
euros, he said.
It also hit French supermarket chains such as Leclerc, Auchan,
Carrefour, and Systeme U which have all acknowledged that some of
the baby milk remained on their shelves after the recall.
(Reporting by Pierre-Henri Allain and Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing
by Edmund Blair)
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