Formula link to diarrhoea

DON SCOTT/The Press

FORMULA WOES: Ken Todd's daughter Haylee had severe diarrhoea and a bleeding nappy rash because the company producing her milk formula changed its supplier.

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A 10-month-old North Canterbury girl has had severe diarrhoea and a bleeding nappy rash because the company producing her milk formula changed its supplier.

Ken Todd, of Waimakariri, said his baby daughter, Haylee, reacted to the Nurture Baby Follow-On formula when Todd and his wife moved her onto it about three weeks ago.

Nurture Baby, owned by Heinz, turned to a British supplier for its milk formula when a New Zealand-based company stopped supplying.

About 70 parents have called Heinz's careline in the past six weeks, with concerns that Nurture Baby Follow-On (red lid) and Nurture Starter (blue lid) have been giving their babies vomiting, nappy rash, wind, constipation and diarrhoea.

"As soon as we put (Haylee) onto it, probably within two days, she was having pretty much major diarrhoea and that caused a huge nappy rash, even with disposables," Todd said.

"At one point her bottom was actually bleeding and that's how bad it got.

"It obviously hurt. It was awful ... we trust (Heinz) to make a product in a certain way."

Four hundred cans of the Nurture Baby formula went on sale without warning that the supplier, and some ingredients, had changed.

The products are regarded as safe and do not contain melamine the chemical behind the baby milk scandal in China but babies are usually slowly weaned onto new formula because they are sensitive to changes in food.

Heinz apologised on the Nurture Baby website and on a TradeMe message board, saying human error had resulted in the changed formula cans ending up on shelves with no warning.

Quality general manager Paddy O'Brien said Heinz was not allowed to advertise the change under New Zealand advertising law and instead put in an underlid leaflet. Todd did not recall such a leaflet.

Heinz also failed to notify the Food Safety Authority (FSA).

A FSA spokeswoman said she was surprised to hear of the problems and even though there was no legal notification requirement, "we would expect to be advised of this kind of thing".

- © Fairfax NZ News