Food alert in Italy: Mass milk recall

Rome: A food safety alert has recently shaken Italy, following the precautionary recall of several batches of pasteurised milk from well-known brands.

The decision, which has affected major supermarkets such as Carrefour, Coop, Esselunga and Bennet, comes after suspicions of foreign objects inside some milk containers – specifically, tiny fragments of rubber from a seal in one of the machines used during packaging.

The recall was issued by Centrale del Latte d’Italia, one of the country’s leading dairy distributors, based in Vicenza and part of the NewPrinces group (formerly Newlat Food). According to its president, Angelo Mastrolia, the action was “purely preventive”, as no actual contamination has been confirmed, nor have any health issues been reported by consumers.

“It’s just a suspicion. During a routine weekly inspection, we found a tiny tear in a rubber seal. If there were any residue, it would be smaller than a millimetre and pose no health risk,” Mastrolia told Italian newspaper Il Gusto.