A POWDERED milk product consumed by about 7,000 babies in Ireland was taken off supermarket shelves yesterday after a salmonella outbreak in Britain.
The Department of Health issued a statement yesterday confirming that Milumil infant milk powder was being withdrawn from sale.
The department said the withdrawal was a precautionary measure and no cases of the rare salmonella strain had been reported in Ireland.
The product is manufactured in France for the British and Irish market by the baby food company, Milupa. Production at the French plant has been stopped pending a full investigation.
The British chief medical officer has ordered an investigation after 12 babies under 12 months developed salmonella anatum in Scotland, Yorkshire, the Midlands and the south east.
Of the 12 cases to did not require hospital treatment. The two babies admitted to hospital have recovered.
The company said the recall was a precautionary measure and stressed that Milumil had not been identified as the source.
Described as milk "for hungrier bottle fed babies" Milumil is recommended for babies from birth to six months.
Its ingredients include skimmed milk powder, lactose, vegetable fat and emulsifiers. The preparation instructions recommend making up the milk with cooled freshly boiled water at around 60C.
A spokeswoman for the British Central Public Health Laboratory, which identified the outbreak, said the mothers in 10 of the 12 cases reported feeding their babies Milumil.
This compared with three mothers out of 40 in a control group. The laboratory carried out the study last week after it noticed a sharp increase in the number of cases reported.
A helpline set up by the company in Dublin was inundated with calls from worried parents yesterday afternoon. A spokeswoman said callers were being advised to switch to another Milupa product, Aptamil or Cow & Gate Plus, "or another casein based feed".
The Milupa parent company, Nutricia, also owns the Cow & Gate brand.
The helpline was open until late last night and will be open during office hours today. A company spokeswoman said this would be extended if the demand was there.
The casein or curd is the basic ingredient of the milk product, made from modified cows' milk with added vitamins and minerals.
Milupa controls about 16 per cent of the baby food market, according to a company spokeswoman.
The Irish market share is bigger than in Britain where it is estimated at about 5 per cent. The overall sales figure of the product in both markets is estimated at up to £7 million annually.
The Department of Health has placed advertisements in today's newspapers. A Department spokeswoman said all health boards had been notified, along with voluntary hospitals, public health directors and supermarkets warned to watch for symptoms of the food poisoning in babies. These include diarrhoea and vomiting.
Salmonella is a notifiable disease, and last year there were around 650 cases in Ireland.
The bacteria are easily killed by heat, but thrive at body temperature of around 36C. It is potentially fatal in infants, the elderly and people with weak immune systems unless they are treated with antibiotics.
