Danone swerves in Paris, withdrawn baby milk at risk of contamination

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Danone falls on the Paris Stock Exchange on the back of a recall of new batches of baby milk powder as part of a wave of recalls affecting several European baby food manufacturers. The stock plunged 5 per cent, the worst performance of the CAC 40 index and also of the Stoxx Europe 600. The Irish Food Safety Authority (Fsa) announced that Danone is recalling infant formula 'produced in Ireland and exported to several EU countries, the UK and third countries' due to the'potential presence of cereulide', a toxin that can cause poisoning. The recall is linked to a contaminated ingredient also implicated in Nestlé's recent recall of some batches of infant formula, the Fsa said.

"One ingredient, Ara oil, produced in China, was contaminated with cereulide and was added as an ingredient to the base powder used to produce infant formula," the Irish Authority explained. Danone, on Friday after the exchange closed, indicated that 'some local food safety authorities are in the process of updating their guidelines. In this context, as a responsible producer and in order to comply with the latest guidelines, Danone will withdraw from the target markets a very limited number of specific infant formula products'.

The company emphasises that it 'never compromises on food safety. Both routine checks and additional targeted analyses conducted in light of the current situation in the industry confirm that Danone products are safe and fully comply with all applicable safety regulations'. In mid-January, the health authority in Singapore requested the recall of another batch of Danone infant formula produced in Thailand due to the presence of the same bacteria. Prior to Danone, the Swiss group Nestlé announced in early January the recall of several batches of its Guigoz and Nidal brands in some 60 countries. Lactalis announced a recall of cans of its Picot milk in France and 17 other countries and organic specialist Vitagermine also recalled three batches of its Babybio Optima milk.