(ANSA) - Italian police moved into shops, supermarkets and pharmacies all over the country on Tuesday to impound millions of cartons of contaminated baby milk.
The massive operation focused on four brands of baby milk produced by food multinational Nestle, which itself signaled the advisability of withdrawing 30 million litres of milk from the market.
According to Nestle in Italy, the problem was with a chemical compound - IsopropilThioXantone (ITX) - used in the printing of the company's logo and design on the milk cartons.
Laboratory tests carried out by regional health authorities in Marche 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.
The affected brands of Nestle baby milk are Mio, Mio Cereali, Nidina 2 and Nidina 1 (May 2006 sell-by date).
Nestle has replaced the containers used for the contaminated batch and said the same products can be safely bought if they carry a sell-by date in October 2006 or after. It said the decision to withdraw the entire batch had been taken out of extreme caution even though, on the basis of independent analyses, the presence of ITX was not believed to represent a health risk.
It gave assurances that a different printing system was now used for the cartons and offered a free phone number for worried Italian consumers (800 253253). But this did little to calm concerns.
Farmer's union CIA said the situation was "incredible" and served as a reminder of the need for rigid checks on all food products. Coldiretti, another farmers' union, added:"Seeing that the price goes up 16 times as this product goes from the cow shed to the child's bottle, it's particularly serious that there should be doubts about the final quality."
Centre left opposition politicians also voiced alarm and called on Health Minister Francesco Storace to clarify details of the case urgently. The order to begin seizing the milk was given by Franco Ponticelli, chief prosecutor in the northern town of Ascoli, where an enquiry into the milk products is under way.
