Prolactal

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Prolactal
legal form GmbH
founding 1986
Seat Hartberg , AustriaAustriaAustria 
management Nikolaas Vles
Number of employees 190
Branch Milk products , dairy products
Website www.prolactal.com
Status: 2020

The Prolactal GmbH is an Austrian company with headquarters in Linz, the milk, whey products and dry milk and whey derivatives produces and sells. It came into the media interest as the manufacturer of the "Hartberger Quargels", due to the increased Listeria contamination from the end of 2009 to the beginning of 2010 people fell ill and died.

In January 2015, Prolactal and Rovita were acquired by ICL Food Solutions , a subsidiary of Israel Chemicals .

Companies

Prolactal goes back to the Lactoprot Alpenländische Milchindustrie und Handels GmbH founded in 1986 . Since 1998 the company has belonged to the Linz milk group Artax AG, which was founded around 1995 by former managers of the Austria Milch & Fleisch cooperative . In May 2008 the Lactoprot Alpenländische Milchindustrie und Handels GmbH changed its name to Prolactal GmbH . In addition to the headquarters in Linz, Prolactal has two plants in Hartberg and Wörgl and a sales office in Vienna. According to its own statement, the company is active in the markets of Western and Northern Europe (especially Germany), Asia (Japan, China, Thailand) and Eastern Europe.

Listeria contamination of quargel

Prolactal produced the sour milk cheese brand Hartberger Bauernquargel in Styria . The cheese was sold under various brands in the German and Austrian grocery stores . After Listeria diseases had accumulated unusually at the end of October 2009, Prolactal products were identified as the source in January 2010. In February 2010, the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety found that twelve people had fallen ill, six of whom died, due to the consumption of sour milk cheeses made by Prolactal. The cause of death was listeriosis . The production of the cheese was then completely stopped. According to official findings, a total of 33 people in Germany , Austria and the Czech Republic fell ill, three of whom died in Germany and five in Austria (as of March 24, 2010). In a press release, the company was shocked by the incidents.

It is also checked whether a free delivery of cheese to social markets for people with low incomes took place before or after the detection of Listeria.

According to a former employee, employees also have listeriosis. He also accused the company of using expired sacks of enzymes for the production of baked goods, which he could prove with photos. The Styrian Chamber of Labor announced that it also wanted to support this ex-employee in court. Thirteen people suffering from listeriosis are demanding compensation from Prolactal through the Association for Consumer Information , which is commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection to look after the injured party. Peter Kolba from the VKI does not want to promote whether grief compensation is also an issue : This is new legal territory. I don't want to raise any expectations. In 2014 the Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse reported on the conclusion of the trial against the employees of Prolactal

In Germany, the Heilbronn public prosecutor's office at the food discount store Lidl is investigating whether the products were returned or the warnings were given in good time because a person died even though Lidl had already carried out the first recall. In 2013, the news magazine Der Spiegel reported a judicial conviction of the discount grocery store Lidl.

Political Impact

On March 23, 2010, Federal Minister Alois Stöger submitted a proposal for an amendment to the Food Safety Act in the Council of Ministers, which was unanimously approved by the Council of Ministers. The amendment is intended to accelerate the information of the population in the future.

At the same time, Austrian farmers also demanded clearer regulations regarding the labeling of food and that consumers should pay more attention to the various quality seals, such as the AMA quality seal that applies to Austrian products , because they felt attacked as producers as well, although no raw materials of Austrian origin be. In the course of the investigations it was found that milk had been obtained from Germany, which originally came from the Netherlands.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Company profile on prolactal.com
  2. ↑ ICL ACQUIRES PROLACTAL / ROVITA
  3. ^ Listeria: Company knew nothing about deaths, ORF, February 16, 2010
  4. ↑ a b Change in law after eight Listeria deaths. (No longer available online.) Agrar heute , March 24, 2010, formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 14, 2010 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.agrarheute.com  
  5. ↑ Weird local cheese. Wiener Zeitung , February 17, 2010, accessed on November 7, 2013 .
  6. ^ Listeria cheese scandal: Fifth fatality in Austria. nachricht.at, February 24, 2010, accessed on April 14, 2010 .
  7. ↑ Harald Schiffl, Prolactal: Prolactal goes on the offensive. Press release, February 28, 2010 ( pdf ( memento of the original from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prolactal.com
  8. ^ Die Presse (APA): Bacteria cheese sold in the St. Pölten social market . The press, March 4, 2010
  9. ↑ Harald Schiffl, Prolactal: Prolactal provided social markets with impeccable quargel from overproduction. ( pdf ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prolactal.com
  10. ↑ Harald Schiffl, Prolactal: Prolactal contacted social markets themselves and offered them quarels. Correction, March 5, 2010, ( pdf ( memento of the original from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prolactal.com
  11. ↑ Deadly Quargel: Ex-Employee Burdens Prolactal , OÖ Nachrichten of March 11, 2010, accessed on April 24, 2010
  12. ↑ courier Michael Hunter: Quargelerzeuger under pressure. Kurier (daily newspaper) , April 24, 2010
  13. ↑ [1] of September 18, 2014, accessed on July 16, 2017
  14. ↑ Contaminated cheese sold: Investigations against Lidl  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. May 15, 2010 Retrieved May 15, 2010@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.orf.at  
  15. ↑ [2] of January 15, 2013, accessed on July 16, 2017
  16. ↑ New rules for "cheese from Austria" in the standard of March 7, 2010, accessed on April 21, 2010
  17. ↑ Weird local cheese , Wiener Zeitung, February 17, 2010 (accessed November 22, 2013)