Institute says 25 more babies hit by salmonella found at Lactalis since 2006

PARIS (Reuters) - Twenty-five babies were infected between 2006 and 2017 with the same strain of salmonella linked to a factory of dairy group Lactalis and that led to three dozen babies falling ill late last year, a French health research institute said on Thursday.

The Institut Pasteur, which is France's reference centre for monitoring salmonella, said the 25 cases were in addition to 38 cases in late 2017 and 141 in 2005 that were contaminated by "Salmonella Agona", a bacteria found in baby milk produced by a Lactalis factory in northwest France.

The dairy company's chief executive said in a newspaper interview on Thursday that Lactalis could have been producing salmonella-tainted baby milk since 2005, without confirming cases.

Lactalis has recalled 12 million tins in France and around the world after babies were taken ill last year after drinking salmonella-contaminated milk from the Craon factory.

(Reporting by Sophie Louet, writing by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Sybille de La Hamaide)