Contaminated milk: the reasons for Lactalis skid
How can the food for babies, the food product which is mostly impeccable, could be contaminated with salmonella?How a giant such as Lactalis, endowed with dairy know-how which earned it its rank as a world's first cheese maker and a turnover of 18 billion euros, could he find himself at the heart of suchscandal?Where has the slippage occurred?Was contamination unstoppable?For how long has the problem have existed?What was done to solve it?
The questions run on a loop on social networks.Parents are indignant, demand explanations and sanctions.There are many of them to have filed a complaint for "endangering the life of others".The case is criminal.The Paris prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation.
Public health revelations France
Officiellement, tout a démarré avec les révélations de l'agence Santé publique France le 1er décembre dernier.Twenty-five infants had salmonellosis.A number deemed high by the state services, which sparked an investigation to understand what hidden this sudden bacteriological episode.
It quickly appeared that all sick babies had in common drinking lactalis milk, made in Craon (Mayenne) in the single infant milk factory in the group.To date, the official figure has risen to 38 babies but the association of parents victims of contaminated milk (APVLC) claims that they are much more numerous.
Salmonella since 2005
For the dairy giant, the salmonella problem had started before it was put in the public square.Long before.In August, initially declared Michel Nalet, the group's spokesman.A date he repeated several times before, a month later, Emmanuel Besnier the CEO of the group said in an interview published by "Les Echos", that the salmonella were present in the Craon factory since his takeoverIn 2006 and that it did not exclude that "babies consumed contaminated milk between 2006 and 2017".
"These are the same bacteria, he said, that those which caused diarrhea, vomiting and fevers in 141 babies in 2005", babies all having in common to have drunk milk made in the Craon factory.On this date, it did not belong to Lactalis but in Celia."We released these agona salmonella by carrying out work on the floors and partitions of the number 1 drying tower at the start of the year," said Emmanuel Besnier.
New market
When Emmanuel Besnier buys the Craon factory, the latter is not at best in shape.She interests him for the cheese brand wearing the monks.Infant milk is not at all part of Lactalis' activities on this date.But it is one of the main trades in Celia.Emmanuel Besnier wants to measure his talents on this new market.
Baby milk can constitute an outlet for demineralized serum that it extracts milk.And it is a market promised to enormous developments in third countries.He will apply the methods that have made his group a global nugget, productivity and profitability.Twelve years later, Celia, very little exporter, now sells in more than 80 countries.The results are there but the flaws too.It's an old factory ...
Indelogable bacteria
Full of corners and corners, old tiles and joints between tile tiles."So many hiding places for salmonella", according to a dairy industry specialist."When bacteria settle in the joints of tiles, as much to say that they are indelogable.We should go to the hammer and destroy everything to have a chance to get rid of it, ”explains a sector of the sector.
In fact, "you have to go to the brush".From floor to ceiling and start again."The salmonella is worse than the Escherichia coli because they nest everywhere and spread.The milk powder flies ... from the drying tower to other sectors of the factory.These are very fine particles impossible to block even if there are filters everywhere, ”explains this framework.
Infernal circle
Worse."Salmonella can survive for a very long time.They have the ability to dormant for years.If we cover a porous concrete in which they have nestled, we no longer have a problem.Until the day the resin cracks, the salmonella will resurface.This is undoubtedly the story of Craon, known as a quality director of the dairy industry who also wanted to keep anonymity.When you regularly find salmonella in the environment and you can't get rid of it, you end up getting used to it.We do what is necessary to avoid contamination of products.»»
It is an infernal circle because to clean the installations, "you have to open them and the more they are exposed to air, the higher the risk of salmonella.You can't use water and bleach.In a dry product factory like infantile milk, we especially do not want water because it is a propagation vector. L'ennemi de la poudre est la fuite d'eau qui donne à boire et à manger à la bactérie»», dit encore ce spécialiste de la qualité dans l'industrie laitière.
Economic equation
To tell the truth, it would be necessary each time the salmonella detected in the environment resist the daily cleaning operations, stop the factory for a week.A requirement that comes up against the economic equation that no dairy business can consider, especially if the problem is recurrent.Did Lactalis were wrong to buy the Craon factory, whose health problems had not been completely elucidated?
The surveys carried out in 2005 by the Institute for the health monitoring (INVS) on the origins of the contamination had not made it possible to clearly establish its origin. Après avoir « isolé des salmonelles en différents points de l'environnement des chaînes de fabrication»» et dans des boîtes de lait alors que « tous les autocontrôles de routine menés par Celia étaient négatifs»», l'INVS en est resté à la formulation « d'hypothèses»».
L'Institut pointait également « la persistance et la résistance des salmonelles dans l'environnement»» après « nettoyage et désinfection»».Despite everything, state services authorized the restart of this factory after requesting a risk management plan from the company.
Video - contaminated milk: why lactalis skid
The analyzes in question
Lactalis, of which it was not the job of making infant milk, did he lack rigor by applying the same safety rules to this production as to other dairy specialties?For Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, there is no doubt: "The measures taken by the company were not likely to control the risk of contamination of products intended for the food of young children.»»
Read also:
> ENQUÊTE Lactalis : les éleveurs ne veulent plus compter pour du beurre > ANALYSE Les leçons de l'affaire Lactalis
La commission économique du Sénat, lors de l'audition de Lactalis le 24 janvier, ne sera pas tendre non plus : « Quelles mesures avez-vous prises entre 2006 et 2017 pour éviter que ne se représentent les 141 cas de 2005 ? Les salariés de votre usine disent qu'ils font le ménage eux-mêmes et qu'il s'est dégradé»», a souligné Fabien Gay, sénateur communiste de Seine-Saint-Denis.
Michel Nalet, the group's spokesperson, will protest against these suspicions and will respond "not to be able to hover the doubt that Lactalis has allowed uncontrolled products to circulate.Unimaginable for a group like ours!When we found salmonella in our environment on August 23 and November 2, we immediately did a reinforced cleaning and in -depth checks. Les analyses du lait n'ont jamais établi la présence de salmonelles»».
Une semaine après l'audition de Michel Nalet au Sénat, Emmanuel Besnier, lui, s'interrogera dans l'interview donnée aux « Echos»» sur « la sensibilité des analyses faites sur le lait infantile par le laboratoire privé chargé de les mener.We have a lot of trouble understanding how 16.000 analyses réalisées en 2017 ont pu ne rien révéler»».Contacted by Les Echos, Eurofins, the laboratory in question, did not wish to comment.
REPRODUCTION AT SIPTION
What does the Pasteur Institute say?Salmonella are very common, well -known, easy to destroy bacteria despite the 2.600 stumps identified. L'espèce qui posait problème, « la typhi, responsable de la typhoïde, a disparu en France»», explique le professeur François Xavier Weill, directeur du Centre national de référence des salmonelles (CNR) de l'Institut Pasteur à Paris.Present in the excrement, she propagated by dirty hands. « On en voit 200 cas par an chez des voyageurs contaminés à l'étranger»», ajoute-t-il.
"Other salmonella still widespread in France live in the digestive tract of animals and can be found in raw milk.Or in raw eggs because the bacteria crosses the blood from the hen to the egg.»» Dans les deux cas, la cuisson les détruit.Beware of mayonnaise and chocolate mousse on the other hand.
VIDEO - Lactalis affair: What is salmonelle?
Also pay attention to cross contamination.Minced meat placed on a contaminated surface, dirty hands when you cook.Excluding fridge, salmonella reproduces at full speed."Salmonella gives two in twenty minutes. Vous imaginez quand elles sont des milliers ?»» poursuit le professeur Weill.
Immigration of controls
The question of the adequacy of controls in factories is posed.The choice was made several years ago in Europe to assign responsibility to companies.Do states have the desire to recruit additional agents to take care of them?It does not seem to the agenda. Bruno Le Maire a répondu à la question en disant que s'il recrutait « 100 agents des fraudes de plus, cela ne ferait encore que 10 personnes de plus par département»».
There remains a possible overhaul of the analyzes of infantile milk since the methods in force do not seem capable of highlighting very small amounts of salmonella in infant milk powder.It will be up to public health epidemiologists to decide.
« Il peut y en avoir des traces dans une boîte et rien dans une autre»», fait remarquer François-Xavier Weill du CNR de l'Institut Pasteur.For quality directors who are daily in factories, "only the 100 % analysis of each product would guarantee zero salmonella because, even in the event of a crisis, the contamination rates are ultra-affable compared to volumes. La chance d'identifier une salmonelle est d'autant plus mince que ces bactéries tendent à s'agréger dans le pot»».
In the end, the best solution remains prevention.This presupposes in particular modern factories, where the surfaces are smooth and the waterproof concrete.Not in Craon in this case ...
