Popular infant formula Similac Gain Plus from New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has been recalled from the local market following reports about contamination of some batches of the product.
\nSeveral countries including Saudi Arabia have already ordered a recall of the contaminated batches and stopped further imports. In a statement issued late night the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning said, it had taken the necessary \u201cprecautionary steps\u201d regarding the contaminated product.
\n\u201cWe have taken all precautionary measures that we take on such occasions such as confiscating all the stocks and collecting samples to be tested in the government laboratories,\u201d said the statement. \u201cWe are now coordinating with the different bodies concerned in this regard and we are keen to ensure the safety of food available in the market,\u201d it added.
\nThe Ministry said that the move was prompted by similar measures taken by several countries regarding the tainted product. The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) on Sunday said that all tainted batches of the infant formula awaiting clearance at the Kingdom\u2019s ports have been destroyed and the existing stocks have been recalled from the market. Fonterra had said that some of its exported milk powder products including infant formula may contain the toxic bacteria Clostridium botulinum, that could lead to botulism, a potentially fatal illness.
\nSimilac Gain Plus milk powder for children aged 1 to 3 years is still being sold in Qatar but it is not clear if the stocks include any contaminated batches. A popular hypermarket in Doha and a pharmacy inside its premises were found to be selling Gain Plus products manufactured in Ireland and Spain by the US-based Abbott Laboratories. However, Abbot infant formula by Fonterra was not found.
\n\u201cSimilac Gain Plus is a very popular infant formula which is in high demand. We have not received any instructions from the authorities to stop sale of the product,\u201d said a source at the hypermarket last evening.
\n\u201cIf any batches of the tainted product are available in the market, we will definitely get an alert from the manufactures and the suppliers,\u201d said a senior official.
\nOn Saturday New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries said that the tainted products were shipped to Saudi Arabia and some other countries like Australia, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
\nMajor importers China and Russia on Sunday blocked all imports of milk powder from New Zealand. Fonterra Middle East Africa said that Fonterra branded consumer products AnchorTM, AnleneTM and ChesdaleTM were not contaminated.
\nDanone Dumex Malaysia said it had ordered \u201ca precautionary recall\u201d of specific batches of milk formula for infants and young children, but tests had so far not shown any contamination.
\nThere have been no reports of any illness linked to consumption of the affected whey protein.
\nThe symptoms of botulism include nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, followed by paralysis, and it can be fatal if not treated.<\/p>\n
Source: The Peninsula<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Popular infant formula Similac Gain Plus from New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has been recalled from the local market following reports about contamination of some batches of the product.
\nSeveral countries including Saudi Arabia have already ordered a recall of the contaminated batches and stopped further imports. In a statement issued late night the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning said, it had taken the necessary \u201cprecautionary steps\u201d regarding the contaminated product.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-qatar_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}