Standards body probes contaminated French baby milk

Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) has begun investigations after a French dairy group; Lactalis recently recalled baby milk due to salmonella contamination. Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most persons recover without treatment. However, in some, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalised. Raymond Murenzi, the director general of RSB says that they are aware of a brand by the French diary on the Rwandan market named ‘Picot’ and they are conducting investigations to find out whether it is contaminated. Lactalis said it was recalling as a precaution all infant formula and other baby food products made at its factory in Craon, northwest France, since February 15 this year. The latest recall affected products destined for both French and overseas markets carrying the Picot, Milumel and Taranis brands, Lactalis said in a statement. “We have Picot on our market but we cannot yet confirm that the batches on our soil are contaminated. As they indicated the batches and lots that have those issues, we are checking whether that baby milk has entered our territory. If we find any we shall recall it with the help of the importer,” Murenzi said. A team of the standard regulatory body was deployed all over the country to investigate the case, Murenzi says. Murenzi said that so far no importer has been found with the contaminated baby mik in the country, but the search is still being carried out mostly among the common importers of the milk “We took samples of the mentioned milk into our laboratory to detect whether it’s contaminated, but we didn’t find. It’s almost two weeks since we started conducting the exercise. We shall communicate to people when we find any issue with the milk,” he added. RSB indicates that they cannot prohibit people from continued usage of the same brand as it has for years been on the market without any issue until now. In early December, Lactalis informed the French authorities of 20 cases of salmonella in infants aged less than six months after they had consumed the group’s products. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Standards body probes contaminated French baby milk