Baby formula with harmful bacterium removed from shelves in Argentina

A batch of "follow-up gluten free formula in powder for babies" SanCor Baby 2 was prohibited from being sold in Argentina after it was discovered to contain a dangerous bacterium.

Argentina's National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT) made the announcement Tuesday to remove the formula from shops through the government's online news portal.

Official controls on the product detected "cronobacter sakazakii," a bacterium that can cause septicemia and meningitis, two highly fatal diseases, ANMAT said.

The bacterium causes a high death rate among babies, according to reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The population should "abstain from consuming" the products that have an expiry date of May 2016, ANMAT said.

The administration has notified all food-related administrative offices in the country so that they are prepared if a case of the product being sold is detected.

For its part, SanCor said online that "it would immediately comply with what was requested." However, it objected to the procedure used for analysis.

"We emphasize that we have carried out all the industrial processes and quality controls, before and during production and sale, to ensure the quality and safety of all the products," SanCor said.

Apart from sales in over 30 countries and regions, the corporation also possesses exclusive distributors in Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay, and subsidiaries in Brazil, Mexico, the United States and other countries.

In June, ANMAT banned the sale of Nestle's Pre-Nan powdered milk formula for premature or underweight newborns after it was found to contain enterobacteriaceae, which can easily cause human intestinal infection. Endi