Italian police have seized around 30 million litres of baby milk produced by Swiss food group Nestlé after tests showed some of it had been contaminated, police said.
A police spokesman said tests showed the milk contained traces of a chemical substance used in the packaging, adding that it was not immediately clear whether it was toxic.
Traces of the same substance, IsopropilThioXantone (ITX), were found in about two million litres of Nestlé baby milk seized in Italy earlier this month.
a police official
Nestlé was not immediately available for comment, but in a statement issued yesterday, the company said ITX did not represent a health risk. It added that it would withdraw all baby milk products that might have been affected.
"After 2 million litres of milk were seized on November 9, we are now seizing 30 million litres of product across all of Italy, not just from depots and supermarkets, but also from lorries," a police official said.
Nestle said yesterday that ITX was used in the labelling of some TetraPak packaging. It said it had since decided to use a different printing mechanism for its baby milk products.