ANZFA warns against Portagen use
of the infant formula Portagen to stop using the product following
the revelation last week that the product was linked to the death
of a premature infant.
The Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) has warned users of the infant formula Portagen to stop using the product following the revelation last week that the product was linked to the death of a premature infant.
The product, which is produced by Mead Johnson Nutritionals of the US, carries the batch code BMC17 on the bottom of the cans and an expiry date of January 2003.
The ANZFA warning came after a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which linked the product to the bacterium Enterobacter sakazakii.
ANZFA's managing director Ian Lindenmayer said that as the product was manufactured in February 2001 and importation to Australia stopped around July 2001, few cans of Portagen from this batch were likely to still be on retailers' shelves.
"Portagen is a nutritional product for adults, toddlers and infants with rare digestive diseases that prevent them from digesting or absorbing fats. It is usually obtained from pharmacies and hospitals on prescription, but we believe that some may have been sold through other outlets," he said.
"Even though Portagen is not being imported into Australia at the moment, we believe that some pharmacies, other retailers, hospitals and individuals may still be holding some of batch BMC17 and we strongly advise them to discard stocks."
