Some stock of a powder milk for premature babies which was withdrawn from the market by its manufacturers last month was discovered this week in a number of Irish hospitals.
The discovery promoted the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) yesterday to advise hospitals and pharmacies which still had stocks of the specialist infant formula Pregestimil to remove it immediately from use.
In December, the product was recalled worldwide by its manufacturers, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, after a number of batches were associated with serious illness in infants and the deaths of two babies in France. The deaths were due to enterobacter sakazakii, a pathogen which can cause serious infection in vulnerable infants but poses little risk to healthy full-term infants.
The FSAI said the manufactur- ers had confirmed the implicated batches were not shipped to Ireland and were only distributed to Algeria and France. However, as a precautionary measure and given that all stocks had not been withdrawn, it issued its appeal yesterday.
"To ensure that all product has been fully recalled, the FSAI is enlisting assistance from environmental health officers, the National Disease Surveillance Centre and the Irish Medicines Board to alert chemist shops, pharmaceutical wholesalers and the medical profession," it said in a statement.
The product is not available on supermarket shelves and Dr John O'Brien, chief executive of the FSAI, said parents of premature babies should not be unduly alarmed. "I would advise any parent who may have a can of Pregestimil in their home not use it and to return it to its point of supply, be it the hospital or their pharmacy," he said.