Stores nationwide have removed all milk products from French dairy giant Lactalis after a worldwide recall by the company on Sunday amid concerns of salmonella contamination, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
Immediately after Taiwan received the recall notice on Monday, the FDA said it issued an order for all milk formula from Lactalis’ factory in Craon, France, to be removed from store shelves regardless of the date of manufacture, and the process was completed by the next day.
Lactalis has recalled about 12 million boxes of milk formula in more than 80 nations, citing fears of salmonella contamination after a reported outbreak of the bacteria at its Celia-Laiterie de Craon factory last year.
In Taiwan, the three importers of Lactalis milk products — Orient EuroPharma Co (友華生技), Standard Foods Corp (佳格食品) and Multipower Enterprise Corp (端強實業) — have withdrawn all their supplies, FDA specialist Chen Wei-chih (鄭維智) said.
The total number of products recalled in Taiwan was currently unavailable, but Lactalis products were no longer being sold in stores, he said.
Nonetheless, the FDA will carry out inspections to ensure that its order continues to be observed, Cheng said.
The latest recall by Lactalis was its third since Dec. 10 last year and has been expanded since then from only baby formula to milk and nutritional productions for people of all ages.
According to international media reports, there have been 37 reported cases of salmonella infections in infants, most of them in France, due to consumption of Lactalis products.
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