French firm Lactalis latest to recall baby formula amid contamination scare 

French dairy product giant Lactalis has announced a recall of batches of infant formula in France and more than a dozen other countries over worries batches have been contaminated by a toxin.

The announcement on Wednesday follows the recall of infant formula by Swiss dairy corporation Nestle in almost 60 countries since the beginning of the month.

Lactalis “is proceeding with a voluntary recall of six batches of Picot infant milk, available in pharmacies and mass retail, due to the presence of cereulide in an ingredient supplied by a supplier”, the company said, referring to the toxin that can cause diarrhoea and vomiting.

“We are fully aware that this information may cause concern among parents of young children,” the company said.

Outside France, the recall affects Australia, Chile, China, Colombia, the Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Peru, Georgia, Greece, Kuwait, the Czech Republic and Taiwan, a spokesperson for the company told the AFP news agency.

The recall involves “a few batches” of formula in each of the countries, the spokesperson said.

The company said the French authorities had not signalled “any claim nor any report related to the consumption of these products”.

The infant formula industry has been rocked by recalls in recent weeks.

Authorities in Singapore on Saturday recalled Dumex baby formula, a brand owned by French food giant Danone, as well as batches of Nestle formula.

The ‍ Singapore Food Agency said it ordered the precautionary recall of a batch of Danone’s Thai-origin Dumex Dulac 1 and Nestle’s Swiss-origin NAN HA1 SupremePro after detecting cereulide.

Danone said the authorities blocked just “a few pallets” of Dumex, indicating they were not yet on the shelves of retail outlets.

Like Lactalis, Nestle has issued recalls since January due to the potential presence of cereulide, a bacterial substance that can cause sickness.

Nestle France said it was carrying out a “preventive and voluntary recall” of certain batches of its Guigoz and Nidal infant formulas after new investigations showed the potential presence of cereulide.

French health authorities said on Tuesday an investigation was under way after the death of a baby who had consumed milk from one of the batches recalled by Nestle, though no link has been established between its consumption and the death at this stage.

In 2018, Lactalis was at the centre of a salmonella outbreak and ensuing scandal after the company was accused of trying to cover up the extent of the outbreak, which led to the recall of 12 million tins of baby formula from more than 80 countries.