Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is considering mandating routine cereulide toxin screening in all powdered infant and follow-on formula products placed on the UK market.

Infant formula regulations set robust nutritional and compositional standards, to ensure that all infant formulas for sale in the United Kingdom are suitable for meeting the nutritional requirements of babies. While these regulations do not specify testing for individual toxins, infant formula is also subject to the UK’s overarching food safety legislation which requires food business operators to ensure that products placed on the market are safe.

At present, the Government does not have plans to introduce mandatory testing of cereulide or other toxins in infant formula. While recent product recalls demonstrate that contamination can occur and must be taken seriously, contamination of infant formula is rare and the UK has processes in place to rapidly identify and manage risks when they arise, including through investigation and product recalls. Any decision to mandate routine testing would need to be evidence based and proportionate while prioritising infant safety.