(ANSA) - Swiss food giant Nestle insisted on Wednesday that baby milk products withdrawn from the market because of ink contamination were not a health risk and indirectly accused Italy of creating a "storm in a teacup".
In full-page advertisements placed in leading Italian newspapers, Nestle said the recall of the potentially contaminated products in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal was a "measure of extreme precaution towards consumers".
It said it had taken the decision even though tests had shown that the presence of the ink in the analysed products "does not constitute a health risk".
Nestle Chief Executive and Chairman Peter Brabeck told reporters in Zurich that "it's nothing. It's a storm in a teacup and there is no risk to safety."
"Suddenly, the agriculture minister puts Italy in an uproar. This has more to do with politics than anything else," he said.
On Tuesday, Italian police said they seized 30 million litres of Nestle baby milk after tests showed they contained traces of a chemical compound - IsopropilThioXantone (ITX) - used in the printing of the company's logo and design on the milk cartons.
They said two million litres of milk were recalled earlier in the month, on November 9.
Laboratory tests carried out by regional health authorities in the northeast Marche region confirmed there were traces of ITX in the milk in a number of cartons, although they did not show that this was toxic, police said.
News of the police operation sparked some alarm in Italy.
"It's unbelievable that defenceless babies should be subjected to such risks," said Agriculture Minister Gianni Alemanno, calling for urgent research to establish what effects ITX could have on the health.
"The problem also regards the rest of Europe, where the packs are produced. Quick action should be taken on a community level," he added.
Nestle, the world's biggest food company, said in its Wednesday advertisement in the Italian press that it had taken the decision to recall the potentially tainted products "autonomously" on November 15.
It also said it had changed its container system so that the same products could now be safely bought by consumers.
Nestle chief spokesman Francois-Xavier Perroud said the figures put out by the Italian police were "totally absurd".
"The maximum amount in circulation at any given time is 1.8 to 1.9 million litres," he said.
Meanwhile, Italian Health Minister Francesco Storace found himself under fire after the European Commission said Italy had alerted the European Union to the problem back in September.
Opposition MPs and consumer groups demanded to know why the recall decision came more than two months later.
Philip Tod, spokesman for the European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, said that Brussels immediately sent out a warning to all EU countries. Tod said Nestle had assured the commission that there was no risk to public health and agreed to withdraw all the contaminated products by the end of September and change its packaging system.
"On the basis of the limited data available, the presence of ITX in food could be considered undesirable. However, it is not likely to present an immediate health risk at the levels reported," he said.
But Brabeck said that Nestle had agreed with EU and Italy's Health Ministry back in July that the possibly tainted products should be allowed to expire while it changed the production process for future products.
Regional health officials in the Marche region confirmed that the first tests revealing ITX contamination dated back to July.
They said further tests were carried out and the official results confirming the contamination were sent to the Health Ministry on September 2. Marche prosecutors said they had opened an investigation into why it took so long to withdraw the contaminated products.
They also asked Nestle for the names of its quality control, production and distribution managers.
Health Minister Storace rejected the accusations that he had dragged his heels on the matter. "If it was so urgent, regional officials could have taken immediate action. In September, as soon as the Marche informed us that something was not right, I alerted the European Commission. There are procedures and tests that must be followed which all take time," he said.
But he essentially blamed the regional authorities, saying that "it's the regions and the firms involved who are responsible for measures regarding the recall of contaminated products."
He rejected all accusations of incompetence or delays, saying that "rather, the seizure of the Nestle milk products shows that the monitoring system is working in our country." The agriculture minister also said the Health Ministry could in no way be blamed, stressing that "it was up to the company to immediately begin the recall."
