Nestlé knew about baby formula contamination at Dutch plant 10 days before first recall
Nestlé admitted to having detected cereulide in some of its baby formula products at its Dutch factory over 10 days before carrying out its first recalls. There have been many reports of babies falling ill after consuming Nestlé formula, including at least four in the Netherlands. France is investigating the death of two babies.
The multinational acknowledged to the French newspaper Le Monde that it found out about the cereulide contamination as early as the end of November. Nestlé issued its first recall in France on December 11. The global recall, affecting 63 countries including the Netherlands, only happened on January 5.
“At the end of November 2025, our internal monitoring revealed the presence of cereulide in some of our products at one of our factories in the Netherlands,” Nestlé told Le Monde. “The results received in early December confirmed the presence of trace amounts of cereulide in the products still under our control.”
As far as is known, Nestlé informed the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) about the contamination on December 9. During this period of over ten days, Nestle says it conducted a “health risk analysis” to identify the “symptoms and consequences” of consuming “products” containing cereulide, so it could share accurate information with the authorities.
But as the French newspaper Le Figaro pointed out, the effects of cereulide are already well known and documented. And as the consumer association Foodwatch pointed out, the “products” involved are infant formula, affecting an extremely vulnerable group of the global population.
Nestlé says it only identified the source of the contamination, an ARA-enriched oil from China, on December 23. It notified the supplier on December 29 - six days later - and also informed other baby formula manufacturers.
On Thursday, Foodwatch announced that it was pressing criminal charges against Nestlé for “endangering the health of infants, grossly misleading consumers, marketing harmful products, failing to implement timely recalls, and failing to inform authorities and consumers” of this potential health risk.
Foodwatch reported investigating several cases that revealed a “worrying pattern.” Babies developed serious symptoms like recurrent vomiting, persistent diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain that did not dissipate with standard treatments. “Some babies were hospitalized at the end of 2025, even before the massive recalls,” the consumer group said. “Parents tell us about weeks of fear, uncertainty, and helplessness.”
“These manufacturers could not have been unaware of their food safety obligations,” said François Lafforgue, Foodwatch’s lawyer in France. “The investigation will confirm this, but we demand the utmost rigor in a case that revolves around the health of babies.”
