The European Commission has announced stricter controls on imports of arachidonic acid oil from China starting February 26. This decision comes after the oil was identified as the source of contamination in infant formulas, leading to recalls by major producers like Nestlé, Lactalis, and Danone in 60 countries due to the presence of cereulide, a toxin from Bacillus cereus. French authorities are investigating two infant deaths suspected to be linked to contaminated milk.
The European Food Safety Authority of the EU has set a recommended maximum safe daily intake for cereulide for infants. They proposed a new limit of 0.014 micrograms per kilogram of body weight for infants, considering that infants process substances differently and need extra protection. Vomiting has been identified as a key short-term symptom used to establish the threshold.
Starting Thursday, arachidonic acid oil shipments from China must undergo checks at EU border control posts. They also need to be accompanied by laboratory results and certification confirming the absence of the toxin, as stated by the Commission. Chinese companies have faced scrutiny recently for poor worker conditions, with reports of exploitation at a factory of Chinese toy company Pop Mart, including underage workers without proper protections, inadequate training, and labor rights violations.
The factory in question supplies Labubus, a toy line under Pop Mart’s “the Monsters” brand. Workers aged 16 to 18 at the factory were reportedly assigned standard assembly line positions without adjustments in workload or production targets compared to adult workers, according to the report.
