The French Government indicated that the investigations carried out so far have identified one ingredient as the source of the contamination
The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Bordeaux, France, announced this Thursday the opening of a criminal investigation into the death of a baby who allegedly ingested Nestlé brand formula milk earlier this month, French media reported.
The Public Ministry specified that the investigation aims to determine whether the milk ingested by the infant contained cereulide toxin, a toxin of bacterial origin that can cause intestinal problems, such as diarrhea and vomiting.
The likely presence of this toxin led French authorities to order the withdrawal of Nestlé powdered milk brands, such as Nidal and Guigoz, the latter of which was allegedly ingested by the baby between January 5th and 7th.
The baby, who was not two weeks old (born on December 25th), was transferred on January 7th to the emergency services of a hospital on the outskirts of Bordeaux and died the following day.
The possible presence of cereulide is also behind the withdrawal, in recent weeks, of powdered milk from the French group Danone in Singapore and the French multinational agri-food industry Lactalis in 18 countries, including Spain and several in Latin America.
The NGO Food Watch announced that it will file a complaint to clarify why this baby milk was on sale, stating that this bacteria was known to be circulating two months ago.
According to Food Watch, there are “millions of infants around the world affected.”
The organization specifically accused Nestlé of “a blatant lack of transparency in the gradual withdrawal of products since December”.
Furthermore, it denounced the Swiss multinational for “silent withdrawals” in some countries, in which it did not inform the consumer.
In statements made in mid-January, the head of Nestlé, Philipp Navratil, assured that, “so far, no case of illness” related to Nestlé products has been confirmed and recalled that the withdrawal of formula milk was “a precautionary measure”.
In any case, Navratil offered his “sincere apologies for the inconvenience and disruption” that the brand may have caused to parents, family members, healthcare professionals and customers.
The Ministries of Agriculture and Health also clarified that “at this time no causal link has been demonstrated between the consumption of affected infant milk and the appearance of symptoms in latent ones”, in reference to Nestlé and Lactalis products.
Both ministries, in a joint statement issued today, highlighted that State services “are fully mobilized for reinforced monitoring of the situation”.
The French government indicated that the investigations carried out so far have identified one ingredient as the source of the contamination, “an oil rich in arachidonic acid, useful for the good development of babies, produced by a Chinese supplier”.
