Danone recalled "several batches" of infant formula due to the possible presence of a toxin, the UK's food safety watchdog said Friday after the French food giant did the same in multiple European countries.
"Danone is recalling several Aptamil and Cow & Gate First Infant Milk and Follow on Milk formula products because cereulide toxin may be present in some batches of the products," the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said in a statement.
This follows recent recalls from Nestle of SMA infant and follow-on formula products due to the same contamination issue.
Several manufacturers have issued recalls in more than 60 countries since December of infant formula that could be contaminated by the toxin which can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
On Thursday, Danone issued recalls of its infant formula to Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Switzerland, the company and national health authorities confirmed.
It previously recalled one batch of its Aptamil First infant formula in the UK because "cereulide toxin has been found in the product," the FSA said in January.
Nestle also undertook a recall of several batches of infant formula in the UK at the start of January as a precaution.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Thursday said it was investigating 36 cases where children developed "symptoms consistent with cereulide toxin poisoning across the UK, after consuming implicated batches."
Gauri Godbole, deputy director for gastrointestinal infections at the UKHSA said that was "not unexpected" given the "widespread availability" of the products before they were recalled - and the fact that FSA testing had found the toxin in some batches of the recalled formula.
Godbole noted that there did not appear to be "unusual increases in reports of vomiting" in infants for the time of the year, but the health security authority was probing the "public health implications of this recall".
No cases of severe illness have been confirmed as linked to the outbreak so far in the UK.
The recall of potentially contaminated infant formula has heaped scrutiny on Chinese firm Cabio Biotech, the supplier of an ingredient used in infant formula which is suspected of being tainted.
Headquartered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Cabio Biotech is one of the world's largest producers of ARA, a fatty acid used primarily in baby formula and food products.
Cereulide was discovered in ARA manufactured by Cabio Biotech.
Danone and Nestle have confirmed they are no longer using ingredients from the affected supplier, the FSA said.
The agency added that it is working with Food Standards Scotland, UKHSA, DHSC, local authorities and international food safety authorities to continue to respond to this global recall.
"Food businesses have a legal responsibility to sell safe food, including checking ingredients from suppliers are safe. We are working with international food safety authorities on this global recall and expect manufacturers to explain what went wrong and provide assurances this will not happen again,” Katie Pettifer, chief executive of the FSA, said.
See details of the Danone products affected in the recall notice here.