At least 37 babies in France are known to have fallen ill with Salmonella Agona.  There is reported another illness in Spain, while Greece has also seen one unconfirmed case.

Of the babies taken ill in France, 18 were hospitalized. All are now recovering, according to the public health agency.

Hundreds of lawsuits have already been filed against Lactalis by families who say their children got Salmonella poisoning after drinking powdered milk made by the company.

The French government has laid the blame for the widening crisis squarely on both Lactalis, one of the world’s largest dairy groups, and on retailers who sold the tainted products despite a recall.

Anger has been growing since it emerged that Lactalis’s own tests had discovered salmonella at the Craon site in August and November, but did not report the findings because it had no legal obligation to do so.

Lactalis has recalled more than 12 million packages of Picot, Milumel, Celia and other brands of powdered baby milk from 83 countries.