More than 20 families in France are taking legal action against the government for investigation failures in the infant-formula recall associated with the cereulide toxin.
Local lawyer Nathalie Goutaland is representing 24 families in the Paris Court of Justice who claim their children developed symptoms consistent with toxin poisoning from consuming recalled baby powders, according to Radio France’s investigative unit.
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Goutaland shared one of a number of Radio France reports on her LinkedIn page as she backed calls for an independent analysis of the formulas that have been consumed by the affected babies, alongside the in-house investigations launched by the manufacturers themselves.
By doing so, that would ensure “impartiality”, Goutaland wrote.
According to Marie Dupin, the author of the Radio France report, the families are ‘demanding that the milk powders consumed by their children be analysed by an independent laboratory, as they systematically encounter inaction from the authorities or are referred to the manufacturers themselves to examine the products in question’.
An initial European recall was kicked off in December by Nestlé following the detection of the cereulide toxin in some batches of its infant formula. It was then expanded globally in January, when French peers Lactalis and Danone also recalled products, along with a host of smaller baby powder producers.
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By GlobalDataThe source of the toxin has been linked to a supplier in China of arachidonic acid (ARA) oil. Symptoms from consuming cereulide, which is connected to the Bacillus cereus bacterium, include vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea.
Radio France said it gathered evidence from the families, who are part of the Intox’Alim collective alliance of those taking legal action against the state.
At least two of the families claim their children suffered vomiting and diarrhoea from consuming Guigoz milk, a formula made by Nestlé that is part of the recall.
Goutaland was quoted in the report as saying: “By asking parents to return the powders to Nestlé, the manufacturer finds itself at the helm of a health investigation that directly concerns it. Even more troubling, this approach is encouraged by the authorities.”
Lawyer Goutaland had not responded to Just Food’s request for comment at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in France launched investigations last month into the deaths of two children said to have consumed formula recalled by Nestlé.
Officials in Angers and Bordeaux opened the probes after receiving reports the infants ate baby milk that was part of the Swiss giant’s international recall of products.
At the time, France’s Ministry of Health, Families, Autonomy and Persons with Disabilities, through its Health Crisis Centre, confirmed the investigations but said at that stage there was no evidence of a link between the formula eaten by the babies and their symptoms.
It then emerged last week that 36 children across the UK had displayed symptoms consistent with cereulide toxin poisoning, according to the government-associated UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
The global recalls have been expanded in February since the initial formula withdrawals in December and January but that is associated with European authorities lowering the acceptable threshold, a similar move made by France.
Following a “rapid risk assessment” after a request from the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) set a ceiling of 0.014 micrograms per kg of body mass.
By setting a maximum acute reference dose (ARfD) for the toxin in infants, the EFSA seeks to “help EU risk managers determine when products should be withdrawn from the market as a precautionary public health measure”, the regulator said earlier this month.
