France opens five probes into contaminated baby formula

Paris public prosecutor opens five proceedings over baby milk Keystone-SDA

French prosecutors have launched five investigations, including into Swiss food giant Nestlé, after batches of infant milk were found to contain cereulide, a toxin produced by the bacterium Bacillus cereus.

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The five investigations, covering dairy products from Nestlé, Lactalis, Danone, Babybio and La Marque en moins, have been handed to the Central Office for Combating Environmental and Public Health Offences (Oclaesp) and the National Veterinary and Plant Health Investigation Brigade (BNEVP), the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Friday.

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The proceedings were opened on January 30. Investigators are looking into suspected offences including the mislabelling of products that could pose a risk to human health, failures by manufacturers to launch recall procedures for potentially harmful goods and endangering life by breaching legal safety or due‑diligence obligations.

Complex investigation

“The Paris prosecutor’s office took over the case because of the large number of complaints filed across the country and the technical complexity of the investigation, particularly around regulatory and public‑health issues,” said Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau.

Further inquiries will continue under the authority of local prosecutors, mainly in Angers, Bordeaux and Blois. Investigators are seeking to determine whether there is a direct link between the consumption of contaminated formula and the deaths or health problems reported in infants.

The baby formula scandal has been unfolding since mid‑December. After Nestlé issued an initial recall of dozens of batches in around 60 countries, including Switzerland, over concerns about possible traces of cereulide, other manufacturers soon followed. Major producers such as Danone and Lactalis, as well as smaller companies in this rapidly growing market, launched similar recalls across the globe.

In France, three infant deaths have been reported, along with about 15 hospitalisations involving infants who consumed dairy products covered by the recalls. However, no causal link has been confirmed at this stage, and investigations are still under way.

Industry sources say the contamination stems from an oil supplied by a company in China, which is used as an ingredient in milk powder. Cereulide can trigger vomiting and diarrhoea shortly after consumption.

Translated from German by AI/sp

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