Nestle SA announced it was recalling hundreds of thousands of gallons of baby milk in France, Portugal, Spain and Italy after the product was found to be contaminated. Apparently, traces of ink from the package of the milk was found in the product. Nestle insisted that the milk posed no health risk if consumed although Italian officials claimed the milk was 'toxic.'
Lab tests in Italy found the presence of opropylthioxanthone in its Latte Mio and Nidina 1 and 2 milk brands. Approximately 530,000 gallons of milk were recalled in Italy with significantly smaller amounts recalled from the other countries.
Nestle spokesman, Francois-Xavier Perroud told the Associated Press, 'We are sad that the packaging material that we bought from a reliable source did not live up to the standards that we expect. We are replacing every single (contaminated) product that you can lay your hands on.'
Italian health authorities ordered about 8 million gallons of the milk to be confiscated shortly after discovering the contaminant. Italian police quickly moved in an took the milk off supermarket shelves.
Italian Agriculture Minister Gianni Alemanno expressed outrage about the contaminated milk. 'It is incredible that such defenseless beings as babies should face such serious risks in a product as widely used as milk,' Alemanno said in a statement. He also ordered that tests be conducted to determine if long term exposure to the contaminant raised any health problems for infants.
Nestle said the health risks involved were minimal. 'In the quantities that this chemical is found in the food, it is not a health risk and there is a broad scientific consensus about that,' Perroud said. 'It is simply a chemical and chemicals have no business in food.'
For now, the products are coming off the shelves. How the ink got into the product and what can be done to safeguard the milk supply are issues that still need to be resolved.
