Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against French dairy giant Lactalis by families who say their children got salmonella poisoning after drinking powdered milk made by the company, an association representing victims said Friday, reports FRANCE 24.
The announcement came as economy minister Bruno Le Maire said Lactalis would have to extend its product recall to all milk products at the affected production site.
"I've filed a lawsuit. Hundreds of other families have already filed suits across France," said the association's president Quentin Guillemain during a press conference.
"Several hundreds more want to file suit, and will do so in the coming days," he said.
So far French officials have reported 35 cases of children getting salmonella poisoning from the contaminated milk powder, while one case has been reported in Spain and another is being investigated in Greece.
Asked about the discrepancy between the reported cases and the number of lawsuits, Guillemain said he believed the authorities were underestimating the number of cases.
"Unfortunately we have not been able to compare our own figures" with those of health authorities, he said, "and today I can't tell you how many victims there are exactly".
He estimated that "tens of millions of cans" of powdered baby milk, exported to 66 countries, may have been contaminated by the salmonella outbreak discovered in December at Lactalis's site in Craon, northwest France.