Nestlé and Danone face new criticism for “silent and delayed” recalls of contaminated infant formula

An investigation into Nestlé’s and Danone’s “discreet” product recall on contaminated infant formula led by Radio France, RTS (Belgium), and RTBF (Switzerland), spotlights delays and silent action for potentially harmful products. 

Nestlé and Danone are both facing new criticism after the report on Tuesday by the public media questioned their speed of recalls after contaminated infant formula products.

It has been deemed discrete as the contamination was first detected at the end of November 2025, but a global recall was not issued until January 5, 2026.

Radio France reports that this “silent recall” is problematic and that legal action has been taken against Nestlé regarding a warning deemed too late to the authorities.

The silent recall

At the core of the investigation is Nestlé, as it reportedly detected cereulide toxin by late November but did not issue its first recall of products by December 10 last year. The toxin was detected in its infant formula that was produced in the Netherlands. 

Nestlé notes that on that day it informed Dutch authorities, all potentially impacted countries, and the European Commission about its analyses and risk assessment on the potential presence of cereulide. The company says it also initiated a “voluntary and precautionary public recall” of all batches produced in 16 European countries. 

The investigation examined the sequence of events between the initial and global recall.The investigation examined the sequence of events between the initial recall on December 10, 2025, and the global recall by January 5, 2026. Nestlé claims that, in this period, the company conducted additional analyses, informed its supplier of the contamination, and alerted the industry to enable actions.

“According to our information, the multinational Nestlé did indeed delay alerting European authorities to the presence of contaminated products still on store shelves and already distributed to consumers,” reports Radio France.

It claims Nestlé halted its production of infant formula in the Aisne region in France on December 26, confirming the presence of cereulide toxin in the arachidonic acid (ARA) oil. Additionally, 838,000 boxes of products were seized in the French factory, as well as in all other production sites of Nestlé. 

However, the products that had entered the market remained available for consumers, according to the investigative report. 

This means that until January 5 this year, families had not been informed about the contamination and had therefore continued to feed their babies with potentially dangerous formula. 

Companies respond

Nestlé has responded, saying the report is misleading and inaccurate, according to Reuters. The news agency adds that the company said it acted with full transparency and cooperated with the authorities from the start, and followed a “strict process” of assessment, traceability, and identification before public recalls. 

Nestlé also claims to have stopped using all mixes containing the ARA oil, “an ingredient from a third-party supplier,” after detection was confirmed on December 24.

Reuters reports that Danone did not immediately respond to comment.