'Contaminated formula left my baby in hospital'

A mother has told how her 10-month-old daughter became seriously unwell after drinking contaminated formula milk from a batch that was later recalled.

Amy Sutton, 42, of Bromborough Pool Village, Wirral, said her daughter Dolly projectile vomited after having the SMA Alfamino prescription formula.

She took her to Arrowe Park Hospital where she was diagnosed with bacterial gastroenteritis.

A Nestle spokesperson said they were "very sorry to hear about any cases where babies are poorly" and their teams would work closely with any families who reported these types of concerns to them.

Sutton said her daughter became unwell around the turn of the year.

"At first I thought it was norovirus as the symptoms were very similar but I was baffled as none of my other four children were sick, which you would expect with a virus," she said.

Her daughter alternated between reviving and becoming sick again much to her alarm.

"I was worried," she said.

It was only when a friend told her on 6 January about Nestle's global recall of some baby formula products that she realised what had happened, she explained.

Sutton added: "I was shocked and I still am."

The mother-of-five raised the issue with the company and said: "I received an email apologising but someone really needs to be held accountable - you can't just blame the supply chain."

Katie Pettifer, chief executive of the Food Standards Agency, said: "The risk of harm to children from cereulide contamination at these levels is low, but consuming it could cause symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea."

She urged people to check if they had any of the affected batches of SMA and also Aptamil and Cow & Gate brands of formula at home and, if so, to return it to the store.

Pettifer said Danone and Nestle have confirmed they are no longer using the affected supplier, and that Aptamil Cow and Gate and SMA products now on sale do not contain the contaminated ingredient.

"We are working with international food safety authorities on this global recall and expect manufacturers to explain what went wrong and provide assurances this will not happen again," she added.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) deputy director Gauri Godbole said: "Following the Food Standards Agency's recall of SMA infant formula, the UKHSA alerted the NHS and advised clinicians to be vigilant of symptoms consistent with cereulide toxin poisoning in children who had consumed affected batches.

"We received 36 clinical notifications of children developing symptoms consistent with cereulide toxin, after consuming potentially affected batches."

A Nestle spokesperson said the company voluntarily recalled certain batches of SMA formula on 5 January, "because we found that one of the ingredients supplied to us was not of the right quality and did not meet the standards we require.

"We have discontinued sourcing the ingredient from the affected supplier and all batches of the ingredient (from other suppliers) are now being systematically tested to confirm the absence of cereulide."

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