SFA orders sales of 5 Nestlé formula products to be stopped due to potential toxin presence

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Food Agency and Communicable Diseases Agency issued a direction on Thursday (Jan 8) to stop further sales of several batches of Nestlé’s baby formula and follow-on formula.

This was done as a precautionary measure due to the potential presence of cereulide. In the meantime, SFA’s investigations are ongoing.

Earlier this week, Nestlé issued a worldwide recall of certain baby formula products due to concerns that they contain cereulide, a toxin causing food poisoning.

“The presence of cereulide in oils is very uncommon, and Nestlé is working with the oil supplier, who is conducting a full root-cause analysis,” Nestlé’s statement said.

The company said that there have been no illnesses so far in connection to the affected products, but that the recall is ongoing “out of an abundance of caution”. In its statement, Nestlé explained that cereulide is a substance of bacterial origin that causes food borne illness, with symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, or unusual lethargy.

After exposure to the toxin, these symptoms usually appear between 30 minutes and six hours and usually resolve within 24 hours.

“The safety and well-being of babies is our absolute priority. We sincerely apologise for any concern or inconvenience caused to parents, caregivers, and customers,” said Nestlé.

However, SFA warned that infants and immunocompromised persons are at higher risk for complications.

At present, the Communicable Diseases Agency is working closely with SFA with surveillance in hospitals to monitor possible cases of cereulide poisoning in children.

The products involved

SFA provided the table below showing the products whose sales have been stopped, all of which originated in Switzerland. These are NAN HA 3 SupremePro (800g, expiring Oct 31, 2027), NAN HA 2 SupremePro (800g, expiring May 31, 2027), NAN HA 1 SupremePro (800g, expiring May 31, 2027), NAN HA 1 SupremePro (800g, expiring May 31, 2027), and NAN HA 3 SupremePro (32g, expiring Oct 31, 2026).

SFA advised parents who have bought these products not to feed them to their children, and if they have done so, to immediately seek medical advice if their children feel ill or start showing symptoms.

The agency added that consumers may contact their point of purchase for product enquiries.

Aside from the NAN brand of products, SMA, BEBA, and Alfamino brands across the globe have been affected, reports say. Prior to this, the last time that Nestlé had a wide-scale recall of a food item was in June 2015, when 400 million tons of Maggi Noodles were banned and destroyed after the government of India said that, because of their high lead content, they were unsafe and hazardous for human consumption. /TISG

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