Products manufactured by French dairy firm Lactalis painted on the wall
of its headquarter in Laval, western France. Lactalis, one of the
world's largest producers of dairy products, in December issued a recall
of all products made at its factory in Craon. PHOTO | AFP
Rwandan government has begun recalling products by French food
giant Lactalis days after it issued an order similar to that given by
manufacturers.
Pharmacie Arc en Ciel, the distributor for Lactalis dairy products in Rwanda and Burundi, confirmed the move.
Niyonzima
Leocadie, a manager at Pharmacie Arc en Ciel, the exclusive distributor
for Lactalis Picot brand, said it had begun to get stock from Rwandan
and Burundian retailers ahead of working out modalities for
compensation.
The French giant first ordered a global
recall of some of its products last December. Last week, the Rwandan
Ministry of Health, also ordered Lactalis milk products, which have been
linked to possible contamination with salmonella bacteria, off the
shelves.
Compensation
“Communication
from Lactalis Group says that they will compensate losses incurred from
the recall or any damage associated with the recalled products. As
their representatives here, we will play an intermediary role because we
also have to be compensated,” said Ms Niyonzima.
According to French media reports, the CEO of Lactalis, Emmanuel
Besnier, promised to compensate “all the families who have suffered”
due to contamination of the group’s products.
“Our job
is to put healthy products in the market. If this has not been the
case, it is our responsibility,” he was quoted as saying by France 24 on
January 14.
Rwandan distributors have gone round
supermarkets and pharmacies in the country to collect the recalled
products that include infant formula cereals and juices under the Celia,
Cereline and Picot brands.
The distributor estimates
that the collection of all the recalled products from the market will be
complete by January 29. Ms Niyonzima said the total cost of
compensation will be calculated after all the products have been
recalled.
No Salmonella poisoning
According to officials in the Ministry of Health, no cases of salmonella poisoning have been registered.
A
statement issued by the Ministry of Health called on “Any person with a
child who consumed the recalled products and has displayed signs of a
running stomach, a fever and stomach-ache to take the infant to the
nearest hospital.”
The symptoms of a salmonella
poisoning usually appear 12–72 hours after intake of contaminated foods,
and include fever, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea and sometimes
vomiting, according to the World Health Organisation.
Possible
salmonella contamination in Lactalis products was announced to the
public in early December, and several countries proceeded to remove the
products from the market for health reasons.
Rwanda issued a ban on the products after a month, which was termed negligent by some observers, given the health concerns.
Investigations
However,
the Ministry of Health says it had to first carry out investigations to
determine “If indeed there were contaminated products” in the market.
“We
could not issue a ban based on assumption. That is why, together with
our stakeholders, we deployed an inspection team and after their report,
we acted immediately,” said Malik Kayumba, the head of the health
communication division at Rwanda Biomedical Centre.
Distributors
of Lactalis products also say the recall of some products effected by
the Group in December concerned items manufactured in 2017 and which
were not in the Rwandan market.
“They sent us a letter
telling us that we would not be affected because the products we had
were all manufactured in 2016,” said Ms Niyonzima.
The
Rwanda Standard Board took samples of the Lactalis products currently in
the Rwandan market, and its report dated December 29, 2017 showed that
powdered milk being supplied by Rwandan distributors was safe for
consumption.
However, later on, letters from Lactalis
to its distributors dated January 12 and 15, ordered the recall of all
its products from the market regardless of the manufacturing date and
assured the distributors of compensation.
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