Summary
- Nestlé has become the first company implicated in the global infant formula recall to openly support creating universal, harmonized safety standards for detecting and testing cereulide.
- The company has expanded its recall, pulling additional batches of Guigoz in France and SMA in Northern Ireland.
- Supply shortages are emerging in several markets, including the UK, with Nestlé saying it is working to restore supply “as quickly as possible”.
Nestlé is urging industry and regulators to set universal safety standards for detecting and testing cereulide in food and infant formula.
The Swiss major is the first company implicated in the global formula recall to openly back a harmonized regulatory standard for the toxin – which remains largely unregulated.
“We are committed to sharing our scientific expertise and urgently call for a harmonized global food safety approach and testing method on cereulide to raise industry standards,” Nestlé said in an open letter to consumer watchdog Foodwatch International. “We believe these efforts will reassure parents and caregivers as we continue to provide high-quality, safe products in which they can trust.”
Why Nestlé’s voice matters
Leading microbiologist Monika Ehling-Schulz who co-developed the ISO method for detecting cereulide told us regulators globally were yet to establish safety benchmarks for the toxin.
“The problem with cereulide is that we don’t have established reference doses that are considered safe,” she said. “Nobody knows what this ‘low’ concentration actually means, because the limit has not been defined yet.”
“It’s hard to comply with the rules if the rules do not exist.”
EFSA, the EU food safety authority, has since published safety thresholds for the toxin in both infants and infant formula products.
But cereulide remains largely unregulated outside the bloc – making industry collaboration core to establishing a common safety benchmark.
Nestlé has so far been the most affected manufacturer by the contamination, having had to pull products from around 60 countries.
Its backing of harmonized rules could prompt more companies to voice their support and, ultimately, accelerate efforts to shape a universal safety approach.
Nestlé widens recall as supply shortages emerge
Nestlé has pulled additional batches of formula in France (Guigoz) and Northern Ireland (SMA) respectively, just three weeks after CEO Philipp Navratil said all recalls had already been announced.
“As methods for analyzing cereulide have evolved, we are voluntarily recalling a batch of Guigoz infant formula in addition to the batches already recalled,” Nestlé said in a statement.
The company is also facing supply shortages in some markets, including the UK, where some consumers report its SMA brand is out of stock. Vicky Woods, MD at Nestlé Nutrition in the UK and Ireland, said that the group was “restoring supply as quickly as we possibly can.”
Nestlé has so far played down fears that the recall would hit its bottom line significantly, highlighting the recalled products form around 0.5% of its annual sales.
Investor sentiment has been resilient, with shares climbing back to pre-January levels this week and major brokers sticking to their ratings for the Swiss major ahead of its FY25 results on February 19.
Uncertainty around future recalls and lingering supply woes could dent that confidence, however, but it remains to be seen if the new safety thresholds in the EU would trigger further recalls or cause the Swiss major’s brands to lose shelf space to competitors.
