A woman in France has filed a complaint against baby formula manufacturer Danone, alleging that her baby vomited a parasitic worm after consuming its products. Police told the Agence France-Presse, an international news agency, on Wednesday, February 26, that the baby reportedly vomited a worm as long as an adult index finger.
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The company that makes powdered baby milk Gallia released a statement about the situation on Friday, February 28, after another family claimed that they found a larva in a container of the milk powder.
The baby had been sick in November, and doctors confirmed it was due to a parasite.
The mom of a 3-month-old baby filed a complaint with the police this week. "In November, her three-month-old daughter had a high temperature," the city of Saint-Malo's police department told the AFP. "She brought her to the emergency room, where she was treated. And several days later, she vomited a worm about six to seven centimetres long."
The woman claimed that her baby was being fed with Gallia at the time when she threw up a 2.5-inch worm last November. The mother said that the hospital had analyzed the worm at the time and confirmed to her that it was, in fact, a parasite. After seeing similar cases of other babies and their families in the news, the mom decided to take action against the company.
Two other cases have also surfaced in France.
The Ouest-France newspaper reported that the second complaint came from a family in the Puy-de-Dôme region in France. They allegedly found a living larvae inside the container. Another case similar to that one was also reported in the Landes region of the nation.
The company is asking parents to report any issues.
Florent Lalanne, head of medical affairs at Danone's Bledina baby food unit, spoke to the AFP and asked parents to report any cases of larvae in its packages. "We need to recover these packages to carry out further analyses," Lalanne said. Danone claimed that substandard transportation or storage conditions could be to blame for the larvae, and the company needs the containers for anlaysis, saying "several hypotheses could explain the presence of an insect."
The company claims the milk might have been contaminated outside of the production site.
The two packages that were examined by company were both said to be produced at a site in Wexford, Ireland, but Danone believes it might have been contaminated elsewhere. "Throughout the production line the powdered milk never comes into contact with air, and is packaged in a controlled environment where the oxygen level is around two percent, which makes survival of a living organism impossible," the head of medical affairs said, adding that the larvae might have contaminated the milk "outside the production site, during transport or storage, or in the distribution network."
As a parent, you can never be too careful when it comes to your kids. So be sure to examine anything they consume prior to feeding it to them.
