Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to effectively disseminate information about the recall of contaminated Alimentum formula to prescribing clinicians.

On 20 February 2022 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) published a product recall information notice (PRIN) for two infant formula products Elecare Similac and Alimentum Similac, due to concerns of possible contamination with Salmonella Newport. These products are produced in the United States of America and imported into the United Kingdom. The PRIN was updated on 22 February to include possible contamination with Cronobacter sakazakii.

The FSA has published and disseminated advice to parents that anyone who has purchased or been prescribed any of the products included in the recall should not feed it to their baby and should return it to the place it was purchased or obtained. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has also shared information on the recall and asked healthcare professionals to contact all patients who have been dispensed the impacted batches immediately.

On 4 March 2022, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued a National Patient Safety Alert to notify clinicians and ensure any affected products are safely disposed of in pharmacies and other settings, and that patients who have been prescribed these products are contacted. The UKHSA’s regional health protection teams and local authorities have been advised of the incident through the standard communication channels and active case finding is ongoing. The UKHSA is working with the Department, the FSA, NHS England, local authorities and the devolved administrations to ensure system-wide communications on the product recall.