Infant formula and health recommendations: the Council of State rules in favor of the State against families

The Council of State ruled in favour of the State on Tuesday against a family association that contested the health monitoring of babies who consumed infant milk recalled for risk of contamination with cereulide toxin.

The State Council considers that the health monitoring recommendations put in place by the State are not "of a nature to seriously infringe the right to life and the protection of health", which rejects an application for interim relief from the Intox'Alim collective.

This group brings together several families facing food poisoning, against the backdrop of a vast wave of infant formula recalls that has been ongoing for more than two months.

In France, three deaths have been reported among babies who consumed milks targeted by the recalls, as well as about ten hospitalizations.

No causal link has yet been identified, but cereulide was detected in samples taken from a baby hospitalized for the first time last week.

Intox'Alim contested the recommendations made to caregivers and hospitals to justify a suspicion of poisoning in a hospitalized baby.

The Council of State adopted the arguments of the health authorities on this matter, noting that these recommendations can only be "synthetic" and that in any case they do not have a direct impact on the care of infants.

A baby will be treated in the same way in the event of cereulide poisoning or severe gastroenteritis.

Above all, while Intox'Alim and other associations accuse the State of seeking to minimize the health consequences of these recalls, the Council judges that the recommendations, particularly regarding the storage, or not, of milk boxes, will not harm the ability of families to take legal action.

The institution judges that the official recommendations "can in no way hinder the analyses and precautionary measures that may be ordered by the courts within the framework of the proceedings initiated before them."

The infant formula affair began with Nestlé recalling dozens of batches in some sixty countries because of the potential presence of cereulide, a toxin that can cause dangerous vomiting in a newborn.

Then, it escalated with a cascade of similar recalls by manufacturers like Danone and Lactalis, but also by smaller players in this rapidly growing market. The common thread: an ingredient – an oil rich in arachidonic acid – supplied by the same Chinese subcontractor.