Quentin Guillemain, who founded the association for the defense of Lactalis victims, called for a boycott of products still sold in supermarkets.
Released from anonymity by founding the Association for the Defense of Lactalis Victims, Quentin Guillemain goes on the offensive. This 33-year-old father, whose little girl consumed a brand of milk recalled by Lactalis and who is at the origin of the judicial investigation opened after the contamination, now calls for a boycott of all products marketed by this brand. Thursday, February 15, the collective will file 30 additional complaints against the manufacturer and retail chains: “We want justice done. Too many questions remain unanswered,” he said.
On Twitter, he evokes “the breakdown of trust” between the parents and “the food safety of the group’s products is broken”. As such and on behalf of families, he calls on “consumers to avoid buying and consuming Lactalis brand products currently on sale in France and abroad”.
The families of the victims consider that confidence in the food safety of the group’s products is broken. They call on consumers to avoid buying and consuming Lactalis brand products currently on sale in France and abroad.
– Quentin Guillemain (@qguillemain) February 14, 2018
Foodwatch points to a dozen “negligence”
The association of consumers Foodwatch, specialized in the field of food, seized the public health pole of the high court of Paris, this Wednesday, accompanied by several parents. Together, they denounce twelve infringements which engage the responsibility of all the actors involved in the Lactalis affair: the manufacturer, mass distribution, laboratories but also the public authorities who were in control of the plant.
“They all failed in their obligations in terms of preventing health risks but also in the particularly weak management of this major food crisis. Consumers were thus deceived and children put in danger”, considers the association. “Both European and French laws impose numerous obligations on all players in the food chain. Producers, distributors, laboratories and of course public authorities could not ignore them. And yet they have been negligent.“, denounces Karine Jacquemart, director of Foodwatch.
Case #Lactalis, we are filing a complaint with relatives today. : 12 offenses and 4 targets. The objective: to prevent this health scandal from ending up, as too often, in impunity, gray areas that are never cleared up or a weak political reaction. https://t.co/FCBb8tkhvN pic.twitter.com/8HYx9ptfcC
– foodwatch France (@foodwatch_fr) February 14, 2018
The association points to the inconsistencies in the discourse of these different actors who have been rejecting responsibility for several months: of Lactalis who showed irresponsibility by buying the Craon plant (Mayenne) in 2006 knowing full well that salmonella had already contaminated 140 infants, to major brands which continued to market prohibited dairy products. Foodwatch in fact cites “recalls in dribbles and on the sly in December, of dangerous products still on sale in January despite the recalls and of players who pass the buck without assuming their responsibilities”. At the end of January, Bercy said that 22 establishments and 60 online shopping sites were still selling banned lots.
This also covers the Eurofins laboratory, which carried out (and validated) the control tests on finished products without mentioning the presence of salmonella to the authorities. This chain of neglect has put the lives of many children in danger, in France as in 85 other countries. Foodwatch’s complaint follows that of UFC Que Choisir for “deception”, the seizure of the public health center by other parents and the thirty complaints that will be filed tomorrow by the association of Quentin Guillemain.
all the light can be shed on all the responsibilities and that all this can never happen again
There were loopholes throughout the chain of responsibility: from #Lactalis to distributors, pharmacies, nurseries and hospitals via the State– Quentin Guillemain (@qguillemain) February 14, 2018
38 infants infected with salmonellosis
A preliminary investigation for “unintentional injuries” and “endangering the life of others” was opened last December. But all fear that the case will be closed. “The actors in this affair have shown themselves to be irresponsible by not taking their obligations further. serious. No wonder that since we see scandal after scandal – meat of horse, eggs with fipronil, etc. -, that these different protagonists seem to escape any sanction. This is one of the crux of the problem : the sanctions should be dissuasive and exemplary “, insists Ingrid Kragl, information director of foodwatch. As a reminder, 38 infants were infected with salmonellosis, including two in the Spanish Basque country.
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