Food goods giant Nestle said on Tuesday it was recalling some batches of its key infant nutrition products, including SMA, BEBA and NAN infant and follow-on formulas, across Europe due to potential contamination with a toxin that could cause nausea and vomiting.
The product recall, which began on a smaller scale in December, is another challenge for new Nestle CEO Philipp Navratil, who is trying to kick-start growth with a portfolio review after a period of management turmoil.
The company, which makes products ranging from KitKat to Nescafe, said late on Monday that no illnesses or symptoms have been confirmed that were tied to any of the recalled products.
After a quality issue was detected in an ingredient from a leading supplier, "Nestle has undertaken testing of all arachidonic acid oil and corresponding oil mixes used in the production of its potentially impacted infant nutrition products," a Nestle spokesperson said.
Nestle holds almost a quarter of the world's $92.2 billion infant nutrition market, according to analysis firm SkyQuest Technology Group.
The company does not publish specific sales data, but infant formula is part of the company's Nutrition and Health Science division, which made up 16.6% of the Swiss company's total sales of 91.4 billion Swiss francs ($115.35 billion) in 2024.
Nestle recalled batches of its SMA, BEBA and NAN products in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and Britain, warning of the possible presence of cereulide, a toxin produced by some strains of the Bacillus cereus bacterium.
The toxin "is unlikely to be deactivated or destroyed by cooking, using boiling water, or when making the infant milk," said Britain's Food Standards Agency. "If consumed, it can lead to rapid onset of symptoms," which include nausea, vomiting, or abdominal cramps.
Norway's food safety agency said there was no acute health risk.
Austria's health ministry said the recall affected more than 800 products from more than 10 Nestle factories and that it was the largest product recall in the company's history.
A Nestle spokesperson could not verify those figures.
Nestle published batch numbers for products sold in various countries that should not be consumed and said it was working to minimize any potential supply disruption.
It said it had identified the potential risk at one of its factories in the Netherlands.
