The National Consumer Commission (NCC) Tuesday urged consumers in possession of Similac Alimentum 400G infant formula, “to immediately discontinue use of the product and return it to the point of sale for a full refund”
Acting NCC Commissioner Thezi Mabuza said the US supplier informed the commission of the precautionary recall of Similac Alimentum in South Africa.
The commissioner’s announcement comes five days after Abbott Nutrition in the US issued a voluntary recall of their popular Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare formulas after four infants were hospitalised with bacterial infections.
The recall in the US on Friday, 18 February 2022, came after the American Food and Drug Administration received four consumer complaints of bacterial infections related to the formulas.
Here in South Africa, Mabuza said Tuesday: “The manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories-Nutrition informed the commission of a voluntary recall following a global recall as announced by the supplier”.
Mabuza added: “We understand that this product is manufactured at their plant in Sturgin, MI, in the United States of America.”
She said the product was imported into South Africa and other countries.
“The supplier confirmed that the recall was prompted by consumers who reported that their infants presented some symptoms after ingesting the formula,” said Mabuza.
“Internal tests by the supplier confirmed the presence of both Cronobacter and Salmonella Microorganisms in the product.”
Although Abbott Laboratories said only four cases were reported in the US, the presence of Cronobacter and Salmonella in infant formula was cause for concern.
“As the commission, we want to emphasise that while there are no cases reported in South Africa as yet, we urge consumers who might have bought this product not to feed their infants but to immediately return it to the point of purchase for a full refund,” said Mabuza.
Consumers are urged to look for the product description below to determine whether the products form part of the recall.
Product Name
Batch Number
Manufacturing date
Exp date
Similac Alimentum 400g Infant Formula
27938z26
March 2021
01 April 2023
29284Z26
May 2021
01 June 2023
