North American recall for infant product over ingredient Salmonella concern

Wellements LLC, which manufactures the infant dietary supplement, initiated a voluntary recall for the product in the US after being informed that a prebiotic ingredient used in its manufacture could be tainted with the potentially-lethal pathogen.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Ontario-based retailer Nature’s Emporium have also called on consumers not to eat the dietary supplement while a recall of the product is conducted.

The product, which is designed to help infants and toddlers with occasional constipation, contains a prebiotic ingredient called Purimune - otherwise known as Galacto Oligosaccharide (GOS).

US-based raw ingredients supplier Ingredion, which manufactures Purimune, informed Wellements earlier this month that several batches of the ingredient had tested positive for Salmonella.

Salmonella contamination​

“On July 13, 2013, Wellements LLC was informed by their contract manufacturer who was informed by raw ingredient supplier Ingredion (formerly Corn Products International Inc.) that retain samples of five lots of a raw material Purimune (Galacto Oligosaccharide) had tested positive for Salmonella contamination,”​ said the Wellements recall notice, which was published on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website.

“To date, no lots of Wellements Baby Move final product have tested positive for Salmonella contamination,”​ the notice added.

No illnesses have been linked to the recalled products in either the US or Canada, the recall notices confirmed.

Ontario-based Nature’s Emporium, which imported the product from the US, is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace.

“The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Nature’s Emporium are warning the public not to consumer Baby Move brand Prune Concentrate described below because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella,”​ said a recall notice posted on the CFIA website.

“The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall,”​ it added.

Ingredion recall​

The FDA and CFIA-supported action follows an earlier recall by Ingredion, which was until recently known as Corn Products International.

The ingredient, which was manufactured by Ingredion’s South Korean subsidiary Corn Products Korea, was distributed to customers in a number of US states, Canada, the Czech Republic and the UK, according to an FDA enforcement report.

In June 2012, US-based Botanical Laboratories was forced to recall 38 bottles of its Digestive 3-in-1 Health liquid dietary supplement after being informed that the Purimune used to manufacture its product was potentially contaminated.