Nestlé baby milk toxin case as firm admits it waited days before alerting authorities after detecting cereulide contamination

Swiss food giant Nestlé has acknowledged that it waited several days for a health-risk assessment before alerting authorities after detecting a toxin in baby milk produced at its Dutch factory.

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The admission follows a large-scale recall in December, when Nestlé withdrew batches of infant formula from 16 European countries after detecting cereulide, a bacterial toxin known to cause diarrhoea and vomiting.

According to Le Monde, traces of cereulide were detected in late November, around 10 days before the first product recalls, as the company awaited the outcome of a health-risk analysis before notifying regulators.

Nestlé confirmed in an online statement that routine checks at its Netherlands facility identified very low levels of cereulide shortly after new equipment was installed at the end of November 2025.

The company noted that existing regulations do not specify a maximum permitted level for the toxin.

Production was halted immediately, and further testing was carried out. Nestlé said results obtained in early December confirmed minute quantities of the toxin in products that had not yet left the warehouse.

The company said it formally informed Dutch, European, and other national authorities on December 10 and launched a precautionary recall covering 25 batches distributed across 16 countries.

Nestlé has consistently described the incident as a quality issue and said it has found no evidence linking its products to illness.

French authorities are investigating the deaths of two babies in December and January who were believed to have consumed possibly contaminated powdered milk.

Nestlé said nothing indicates a connection between those deaths and its products, describing the cases as tragic.

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The development has intensified scrutiny of food safety reporting timelines and regulatory notification procedures within the infant nutrition sector.