Probe on for tainted SA baby milk banned in Tanzania

A South African firm that manufactures infant powdered milk that was recently banned in Tanzania has launched investigations into how the tainted product found its way into the East African country.

The investigations come amid reports that several Tanzania children have been admitted to hospitals across the country after being taken ill.

The EastAfrican meanwhile established last week that the milk was still on sale in some outlets.

Laboratory tests conducted by the Tanzania Food & Drugs Authority show that baby formula milk S-26 Code 1 that is manufactured by Aspen Nutritionals contains high quantities of free fatty acids and peroxide chemicals.

The ban further jeopardises the business interests of the giant firm and may raise issues of competence since the milk is manufactured under licence from US firm Wyeth Pharmaceuticals of New Jersey, which boasts annual sales of more than a billion dollars.

The ban is the second one involving South African baby formula products in Tanzania in the past year. Earlier, 400g tins of Lactogen 1 baby food milk formula were purged from the market over poisoning fears.

Speaking on behalf of Aspen, Shauneen Beukes, of Shauneen Beukes Communications, told The EastAfrican from South Africa last week that Aspen considers the issue to be of grave importance and that the firm has started investigations into claims of contamination and complications in collaboration with TFDA.

The EastAfrican has further established that most of the infant food formula products entering the East African countries of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda are counterfeits that have side-effects ranging in severity from mild to life-threatening.

TFDA said that after lab tests showed significant shortcomings in the product it banned importation and sale of S-26, whose consumption by toddlers has reportedly caused serious health problems.

Margareth Ndomondo-Sigonda, managing director of TFDA, said the high presence of free fatty acids and peroxide chemicals was an indication that the fat contained in the milk was tainted and therefore unfit for human consumption.

Mrs Ndomondo-Sigonda said the tests were prompted by complaints by consumers to the regulator after their babies were allegedly affected by the milk. The government therefore felt it prudent to ban the importation, distribution and sale of infant powdered milk made and distributed by Pharmacare, she said.

“The ban will cease when the manufacturer, Pharmacare Ltd, rectifies the ingredients problem,” said Mrs Ndomondo-Sigonda.

The lab tests involved 38,560 tins of S-26, each weighing 400 grammes, from various shops and food warehouses across the country. Product specifications indicate that S-26 is suitable for infants of up to 6 months.

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had, as at last week, not established the number of children affected by the tainted milk, but TFDA said infants who consumed the product sneezed, had stomach pains and also vomited. When diluted, the milk emitted a rancid smell, it said.

The business community — including importers as well as wholesalers and retailers — has already been warned to surrender their stocks of the product to TDFA.

By last week, however, several selling points, including supermarkets, were still selling the banned powdered milk, which retails at Tsh16,000 ($13) for a 400g tin. But TDFA said its inspection officials were already in the field by mid last week looking for the banned milk.

The manufacturers of S-26 are a subsidiary of Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and is Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer.

The group’s principal activity is manufacturing, marketing and distributing pharmaceuticals, as well as branded consumer and personal care products and infant milk formula.

In April last year, TFDA banned the Lactogen 1 after tests showed higher than declared levels of trace elements iron, zinc and copper in samples of the infant formula milk.

The ban affected Lactogen 1 400g tins bearing the batch code 73100179 L1, which were manufactured on November 6, 2007, at the Nestle South African plant.

Theo Mxakwe, director of communications for Nestle South Africa, told The EastAfrican from Johannesburg then that the firm was investigating how the product entered the Tanzanian market while it was meant for South Africa, Botswana and Zambia.

He said internal investigations were under way to determine what could have gone wrong during the production of the formula.

Nestle, the world’s largest food company, last week recalled infant formula manufactured in South Africa after a mixing error led it to contain excessive levels of copper, iron and zinc.

Last year, Tanzania also banned Chinese milk products in the wake of the scandal in China that involved milk contaminated with the toxic industrial chemical melamine that resulted in at least 6,200 children falling ill while six died.

Infant food, especially powdered milk, has been a sensitive issue in the baby formula market, with parents becoming wary of health risks associated with the slightest of industrial errors.