The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) have released an urgent recall on a batch of baby formula products, due to the possible presence of Salmonella and Cronobacter sakazakii.
Abbott is recalling specific batches of its EleCare Similac and Alimentum Similac due to these concerns. If you have these products in your home, you are advised to stop using them immediately.
Thankfully, no products distributed to Ireland have tested positive for the presence of Cronobacter sakazakii or Salmonella Newport.
Retailers are requested to remove the implicated batches from sale and to display a point-of-sale recall notice in stores where the affected batches were sold.
The recall notice explains that although Cronobacter sakazakii and Salmonella cannot grow in powdered infant formula, they can survive for a long period of time and therefore, pose a potential risk after rehydration if the product is temperature abused.
“Contamination of powdered infant formula with Cronobacter sakazakii and Salmonella can cause severe disease in infants such as diarrhoea (sometimes bloody), fever, sepsis or meningitis which can lead to serious neurological and developmental issues and can be fatal on rare occasions,” the warning read.
Among infants, those at greatest risk for infection are neonates, particularly pre-term infants, low-birth weight infants or immunocompromised infants.
For more information, you can check out the full FSAI warning here.
