8 July 2008 –Lactalis's Galbani brand isn't involved in the latest food scare to hit Italy, the French group stressed in a statement.
The scandal, which according to Italian police may involve up to 40 large companies, hit the headlines on Friday 4 July. Tradel S.r.l. is accused of having mixed more than 11,000 tonnes of unfit for consumption cheeses with fresh milk and sold the resulting products on.
Galbani, the Italian cheese brand which Lactalis bought off holding group BC Partners in 2006, accounted for over 11% of the French company’s 2007 turnover. The scandal may impact negatively on Galbani’s sales and result in the group losing its number 1 spot for Italian cheeses in Europe.
Galbani was reportedly mentioned by investigators as one of Tradel’s main suppliers and customers, an accusation which Lactalis strongly denies.
“Galbani is in no way involved in Tradel’s fraudulous activities. Galbani products do not contain ingredients supplied by Tradel or any of its sister companies” said the statement.
A spokesperson for the French dairy group stressed that though Lactalis used to supply Tradel with cheeses, these weren't spoilt but only nearing their sell by date. Lactalis never bought products off Tradel, the spokesperson added.
“The procedures and checks put in place by the group (over 1,400,000 per year) involve the whole chain from production, including milk collection, to distribution of the finished product, in order to guarantee full traceability and conformity to internal quality standards,” read the statement.
This is the latest cheese scare to hit Italy, after some buffalo milk samples were found to be contaminated with carcinogenic dioxins at the end of March, as reported on FLEXNEWS.
