Bangladesh importer says it sold most Lactalis milk tins before salmonella alarm

The Bangladeshi importer of Lactalis baby formula says it had sold most tins before the French dairy giant recalled its products for the presence of salmonella bacteria.

The logo of Lactalis Group is seen at the entrance of the French dairy group Lactalis headquarters in Laval, western France, Jan 12, 2018. Reuters The logo of Lactalis Group is seen at the entrance of the French dairy group Lactalis headquarters in Laval, western France, Jan 12, 2018. Reuters

A view shows the Celia dairy company's infant milk factory, which is part of the Lactalis Group, in Craon, western France, Jan 12, 2018. Reuters A view shows the Celia dairy company's infant milk factory, which is part of the Lactalis Group, in Craon, western France, Jan 12, 2018. Reuters

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Bangladesh Food Safety Authority or BFSA earlier published a notice alerting the people to the possible presence to salmonella in Lactalis’ Baby Care 1, Baby Care 1B and Baby Care 2B brought between February and October last year.

It also said it was taking steps to take the Lactalis tins off the shop shelves.

But on Monday, Jawad Ahmed, one of the owners of JES International, the importer of Lactalis products, told bdnews24.com they could withdrew only 1,000 cartons out of 8,000 cartons of powdered milk after being asked to recall the products from the market on Dec 22 last year.      

Every cartoon contains 24 tins, which means 168,000 tins are still on shop shelves, or have made their way to consumers.

Jawad said the sold products of Lactalis arrived in July last year and the around 1,000 withdrawn cartons were at their warehouse now.

He also claimed they had the stock experimented in a Bangladesh laboratory but found no bacteria.

JES has been importing Lactalis products for 17 years. 

In December, during the first recall of its baby formula, Lactalis also suspended export of Baby Care 3 scheduled for shipment to Bangladesh in 2020.

It recalled the products for the third time in a month on Friday. The recall involves some 12 million tins of baby milk in total.

On Sunday, Lactalis Chief Executive Emmanuel Besnier told the weekly Journal du Dimanche his family company, one of the world's biggest dairies, would "pay damages to every family which has suffered a prejudice", Reuters reported.

Jawad, however, said Lactalis did not say anything about what the importer should do if any family raised health issues after the consumption of the baby formula.

BFSA Chairman Mohammad Mahfuzul Haque told bdnews24.com they have formed a four-member committee to monitor the work to remove Lactalis products affected by salmonella from the market.

BFSA Secretary Khaled Hossain, who is heading the committee, said they have already seized around 11,000 tins of recalled powdered milk from JES warehouses in Dhaka.