Food manufacturer Danone has significantly expanded its recall of baby formula in Germany due to possible contamination with the toxin cereulide. On Thursday, the company recalled more than 120 production batches of its Aptamil and Milumil brands in Germany and Austria. This was done “against the background of updated recommendations on the cereulide threshold value,” the company said.
“Products from the affected production batches should no longer be fed and should be returned to the place where they were purchased,” the statement continued. The purchase price will be refunded even without a receipt. One week earlier, the French company had initially recalled three batches of Aptamil baby formula in Germany. On the same day, four batches of Aptamil were recalled in Austria.
The new recall issued Thursday covers more than 120 production batches of Aptamil and Milumil in various package sizes and with different expiration dates. Parents can check whether a product they purchased is affected on the websites aptaclub.de, milupa.de, or lebensmittelwarnung.de.
Since early January, manufacturers including Nestlé, Danone, and French group Lactalis have had to recall baby formula in dozens of countries because of potential contamination with cereulide. There is suspicion that a substance produced in China, which contains arachidonic acid important for infants, may be responsible for the contamination. Cereulide is a bacterial toxin that can cause diarrhea and vomiting.
The EU Food Safety Authority Efsa proposed a reference value for cereulide on Monday. A concentration of more than 0.054 micrograms per liter in infant formula or more than 0.1 micrograms per liter in follow-on formula “could lead to an exceedance of safety values,” the Rome-based authority said. Scientists proposed a maximum acceptable daily intake for infants of 0.014 micrograms of cereulide per kilogram of body weight.
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