Baby formula milk taken off sale 'as a precaution' following salmonella cases in France

So far, in Spain, no salmonella cases have been reported, and all tests on baby milk have shown up negative results.

The company Lactalis Nutrición Iberia has taken 28 different types of formula in powder format off the shelves – 13 from its brand Damira, 11 Sanutri and four Puleva products.

Lactalis stresses that the withdrawal is 'purely a precaution', since the batches in question were manufactured on the same production line as the ones in France found to be affected with salmonella.

All products by the brands Sanutri, Damira and Puleva still on sale are 'totally safe', including the liquid formula Puleva Peques, as they were produced in Lactalis' factories in Spain and there has been no risk of cross-contamination, the company stresses.

The ones taken off sale are only sold in pharmacies and are not available in supermarkets.

Anyone who has bought the products in question should return them to where they bought them, says the Spanish Agency for Consumer Goods, Food and Nutrition Safety (AECOSAN), part of the ministry of health.

The withdrawal was able to be carried out immediately thanks to the European Union's Rapid Alert System for Food and Fodder (RASFF), which sends instant notifications whenever a problem arises with products anywhere in the EU-28.

AECOSAN says Lactalis has arranged for the factory in Craon, France to be thoroughly disinfected.

Five new cases of salmonella in babies were reported last week in France, one of which was linked to the infant's having consumed a rice meal by the brand Picot, and the rest connected to formula milk.

In total, around 20 cases of salmonella in babies of under six months of age have been reported.