The Paris public prosecutor has opened five investigations into baby milk brands distributed by Nestle, Lactalis, Danone, Babybio and La Marque en moins after contamination with toxin cereulide, it said on Friday [Feb. 13].
Cereulide, which can cause nausea and vomiting, has been detected in ingredients from a supplier in China for several infant formula makers, including Nestle, Danone and Lactalis, triggering precautionay recalls in dozens of countries, including France, and raising concerns among parents.
“The Paris prosecutor’s office decided to take up the case due to the large number of complaints filed nationwide and the technical nature of the investigations,” it said in a statement.
It also received a complaint filed by the association Foodwatch and complaints from eight individuals whose families reported vomiting after their children consumed infant formula, the prosecutor said.
Danone declined to comment on the matter.
The other companies mentioned by the prosecutor did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside office hours.
The new investigations covered potential offenses including fraud concerning goods that pose a danger to human health, and failure by a food business operator to implement a withdrawal for a product harmful to health, the prosecutor said.
Investigations were continuing by local prosecutors in the French towns of Angers, Bordeaux and Blois into the deaths of three infants and whether there is a causal link with the consumption of contaminated infant formula, it added.
One of the babies, who died in the town Pessac in southwestern France, had been fed with Guigoz powder milk made by Nestle, the Bordeaux prosecutor has said.
Nestle, which stresses that food safety is its top priority, has noted there is nothing at this stage that indicates any link between these tragic events and the consumption of its products.
In an update on Wednesday, France’s health ministry had said no link had been established so far between recalled formula and the three deaths.
In 14 hospitalizations suspected of being linked to the recalls, consumption of recalled formula had been confirmed in eight cases but a causal link to cereulide has not been established, the ministry said, adding the infants concerned had returned home.
The European Food Safety Authority, meanwhile, has set a threshold for cereulide levels, prompting some producers to withdraw more products.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Gianluca Lo Nostro, Jean-Stephane Brosse, Sybille de La Hamaide, Gus Trompiz and Alexander Marrow; editing by Louise Heavens and Diane Craft)
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