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An infant nutrition expert has strongly criticised baby-food manufacturer Nutricia for falling foul of food safety regulations.
This week the Food Safety Authority recommended parents stop using the Karicare Gold Plus range of formulas because they contained a prohibited ingredient.
Nutricia, which makes the Karicare range, is adamant its product is safe and it has not breached regulations.
But Dr Winsome Parnell, a senior lecturer at the University of Otago's Department of Human Nutrition, said she was uneasy that Nutricia had apparently bypassed food statutes.
"I am not happy with any food company, particularly in the area of infant formula, not complying with the current regulations. Once you start that there is no end to it," Dr Parnell said.
"I think therefore that the Food Safety Authority has every right to point out that a company providing products to an extremely vulnerable section of the community are not abiding by the current regulations."
The authority has targeted the Karicare Gold Plus Range because it contains fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS). The sugar occurs naturally in many fruits and vegetables and has been added to the formula to aid infants' bowel motions.
The authority said that while it had no evidence that FOS was unsafe, the product had not been proved to be safe under New Zealand conditions. It has also hinted other foods containing FOS may be investigated.
Dr Parnell said the authority would not raise the issue if it did not have concerns about infants using the formula as their sole source of nutrition.
"It may be tolerated by some infants ... but one of the products that contains FOS may very well be given to pre-term infants, who are an extremely vulnerable group," Dr Parnell said.
She said she didn't believe there was any evidence from experiments suggesting that FOS should be in baby food.
"It may be in due time, when they've looked at all the data, that it is approved for use here. But if all companies pre-empt that, I just don't think that is the way to indicate that you are a reliable provider."
Yesterday Nutricia launched an advertising campaign defending the Gold Plus Range.
Managing director Toni Brendish said FOS had already been proven to be safe for children, and had been subjected to extensive safety assessments around the world. The only question over FOS was not its safety, but its classification, she said.
Inulin, the type of FOS in the Karicare Gold Plus Range, had previously been classified as a food by the Ministry of Health, meaning it could legitimately be added to standardised food.
Other food standards had approved inulin, and Nutricia believed those standards applied, Ms Brendish said.
"It isn't possible within the food code to say that it is a nutritive substance for one product but an ingredient for everything else. The code doesn't allow you to do that.
"It is either an ingredient, which we would say the documentation proves it is, or it's a nutritive substance. If it is the latter case, then all of those products in the market place that contain inulin are non-compliant," Ms Brendish said.
"The question is why were we chosen, and I think it's because it is an easy mark in terms of babies, because we are concerned in making sure that babies have the best product."
Both Nutricia and the authority are preparing to argue the issue out in the High Court.
The authority says the current joint Food Standards Code applies here and in Australia, and supersedes any older regulations. It says that code does not permit any additive to be put into infant formula without express permission.
