Nestle Apologizes to Parents Over Tainted Ingredient
Addressing affected consumers directly, Nestle CEO Philipp Navratil confirmed the company initiated the withdrawal last week "as a precaution after identifying a quality issue with an ingredient used in some of our products."
"Before I explain the situation in more detail, I first want to apologize sincerely for the worry and disruption this may have caused parents, caregivers and our customers," Navratil said.
According to Navratil, quality control personnel confirmed the contamination concern in December at a Nestle manufacturing facility in the Netherlands. This discovery triggered an immediate voluntary product withdrawal across several European nations, executed alongside national regulatory bodies. Subsequent analysis revealed the contamination originated from "a specific raw material from one of our suppliers."
After pinpointing the contamination source, Nestle immediately suspended shipments of all formula batches containing the compromised ingredient and broadened its precautionary withdrawals in early January.
"I want to reassure you that there have been no confirmed cases of illness linked to the affected products to date," Navratil said, emphasizing the corporation deemed it essential "to act quickly and transparently."
In an official statement posted online, Nestle disclosed it identified "a quality issue with an ingredient provided by a leading supplier" and has conducted comprehensive testing of all arachidonic acid (ARA) oil and corresponding oil blends used in potentially affected infant nutrition products.
The corporation explained that ARA oil serves as a standard component in infant nutrition formulas distributed internationally, resulting in the contamination affecting numerous nations, product lines and brand names. Withdrawal protocols have been executed on a nation-by-nation basis according to regional regulatory requirements.
Nestle indicated the withdrawn product batches account for "significantly less than 0.5% of annual group sales" and that the financial impact is not expected to be significant.
"The safety and wellbeing of infants remain our top priority," the company said.
The withdrawal has impacted formula products shipped to more than 50 nations spanning Europe, the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Africa, according to Nestle.
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