Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 January 2024
596. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health if his Department or any of the other relevant bodies will issue a formal authoritative request to a representative body to issue a notification to its members regarding the recall of products (details supplied); the reason this has not been done; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2515/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am informed that the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) published an alert of the recall of two Nutramigen products on the afternoon of Tuesday, 2nd January. On the same afternoon, FSAI informed the National Health Protection Office of its intention to issue this food alert relating to possible contamination by Cronobacter sakazakii of these two powdered infant formula products.
The FSAI alert was updated on Thursday, 4th January with further information. Both the original and updated alerts were published on the FSAI website, through social media platforms and notified to those consumers who have subscribed to receive food alerts from FSAI. The alerts also received coverage in local and national print media.
Nutramigen is a hypoallergenic powdered infant formula for small infants classed as “Food for Special Medical Purposes”. It is given on medical advice but is not a Prescription Only Medicine (POM), so it was possible for the general public to purchase this product in pharmacies.
I am informed that the FSAI called an Incident Management Team (IMT) meeting on Thursday, 4th January, with the National Health Protection Office (NHPO). At this meeting the issue of communications was thoroughly explored. Following consideration, it was decided not to issue a public alert from the HSE.
Immediately following the IMT meeting, the NHPO carefully considered alerting GPs. However, following discussion between HPSC and the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), the NHPO found it was apparent that a high degree of penetration of the alert message to the professionals with greatest contact with parents of children likely to be taking this infant formula had been achieved. The NHPO concluded that a general GP alert would have been unlikely to have been an effective, or efficient way to rapidly mitigate risk, when there were more appropriate and rapid risk communication routes available, especially as the recall was rapidly issued by the FSAI.
