The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) released a statement on their official website and socials warning the public in Qatar to avoid the usage of infant formula for special uses from Abbott Laboratories. Products include Similac Human Milk Fortifier, Elecare, Elecare-JR: all of which are being recalled by several countries’ health ministries due to the possibility of contamination with Salmonella and Chronobacter bacteria.

وزارة الصحة العامة ​تحذر من منتجات بودرة حليب أطفال للرضع لاستخدامات خاصة تنتجها شركة (Abbott) لاحتمالية تلوث بعض تشغيلات هذه المنتجات ببكتيريا السالمونيلا وبكتيريا الكرونوباكترhttps://t.co/cqYUZgWwH3 pic.twitter.com/n6t4jK36PE

— وزارة الصحة العامة (@MOPHQatar) February 22, 2022

MoPH has alerted the public to avoid the usage of the mentioned baby milk powder products to help preserve the health of their children. It has initiated a series of precautionary measures that include the withdrawal and prevention of the said products from sale. The Ministry has also referred their samples from Similac and Elecare for laboratory analysis to inspect the suspected products.

MoPH further clarified that, so far, no disease-related cases from the consumption of Abbott products have been reported in Qatar. But these precautionary measures were certainly a good pre-emptive measure to safeguard the health of children.

Providing further details of the products, MoPH named Abbott’s Similac, Elecare, and Elecare JR with the first digits of product codes ranging from 22–37. The recalled products have a production date of November 1, 2020, and an expiry date until April 1, 2022, or later.

The news about bacterial contamination began when Abbott received four complaints from customers from Minnesota, Ohio, in USA, about infant illnesses related to chronobacter and salmonella infections. The company immediately began the recall of three types of their baby milk formula as a safety measure. 

Abbott further tweeted from their official Twitter asking consumers to not use the said products even if there has been no recall within their countries.

If your product is affected by the recall, do not use it and go to https://t.co/lIZ35dRekh to obtain a refund or replacement. You should seek safe, alternative feeding options and talk to your pediatrician or healthcare professional.

— Abbott (@AbbottNews) February 18, 2022

 

Several other countries, such as China and Singapore also began the recall and stopped the sale of the products. Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health also received a notification from the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) regarding the contamination and immediately initiated recall within the country.

 

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Image and source credit: MoPH