Italy police seize ‘contaminated’ Nestle baby milk

ROME (Reuters) – Italian police seized on Tuesday around 30
million liters of baby milk produced by Swiss food group Nestle
after tests showed some of it had been contaminated, police
said.

A police spokesman said tests showed the milk contained
traces of a chemical substance used in the packaging, adding
that it was not immediately clear whether it was toxic.

Traces of the same substance, IsopropilThioXantone (ITX),
were found in about two million liters of Nestle baby milk
seized in Italy earlier this month.

Nestle was not immediately available for comment on
Tuesday, but in a statement issued on November 21, the company
said ITX did not represent a health risk. It added that it
would nonetheless withdraw all baby milk products that might
have been affected.

Italian Forestry Police led Tuesday’s operation,
confiscating Latte Mio, Mio Cereali, Nidina 1 and Nidina 2
products which had a September 2006 expiry date.

“After 2 million liters of milk were seized on November 9,
we are now seizing 30 million liters of product across all of
Italy, not just from depots and supermarkets, but also from
lorries,” a police official said.

Nestle said on Nov 21. that ITX was used in the labeling of
some TetraPak packaging. It said it had since decided to use a
different printing mechanism for its baby milk products.

Nestle shares were down 0.5 percent at 1215 GMT in a
slightly higher overall Swiss market.