Vanillin was detected in stage 1 milk powder. What should I do if I have already finished it?

Today I saw someone asking in a private message: Abbott's Stage 1 milk powder was fined for "contamination" with vanillin, what do you think? I searched online and found that "vanillin" was found during the random inspection, but the content was very low. The official investigation concluded that "the food safety risk is extremely low." So, let's do what we should do, this melon is not delicious at all

How did vanillin “contamination” happen, and why is the risk “extremely low”?

1. Why is vanillin not allowed to be added to stage 1 milk powder?

Vanillin is a natural flavor extracted from vanilla pods. It can be synthesized artificially and is commonly found in foods such as ice cream, cakes, and chocolate. my country's national standards stipulate that vanillin (and other flavors) cannot be added to stage 1 milk powder, but vanillin can be added to stage 2 and above.

In fact, the main reason for not adding stage 1 is not because it is unsafe, but because of the taste. It is best to feed babies from 0 to 6 months old exclusively with breast milk, but some new mothers do not have enough milk, or need to stop breastfeeding due to special reasons such as illness, so they need formula to fill the gap.

If vanillin is added to milk powder, it may cause the baby to be unable to adapt to the taste of breast milk and stop breastfeeding. After 6 months, the baby gradually adds complementary foods of various flavors, and it is not necessary to strictly limit the taste of milk powder, so it can be added above stage 2.

The management of vanillin in foreign countries is somewhat different from ours. For example, the United States and Europe do not have clear restrictive regulations on vanillin. It is up to the companies to decide whether to add it. Of course, most products do not actually add it.

But there are many strange things in the world. For example, Dubai's luxury version of stage 1 infant formula can be added with vanillin. The added amount is 380 mg per kilogram, which is close to the limit of vanillin added to stage 2 milk powder in China.

2. Will vanillin affect the baby's health?

Vanillin is very safe, and "detection" does not mean a safety issue. Let me make a simple calculation: the international evaluation result on the safe dose of vanillin is that it is safe to take no more than 10 mg per kilogram of body weight per day. For a newborn baby weighing 3 kilograms, it is 30 mg per day.

The vanillin content in the milk powder is less than 0.2ppm. Even if a newborn baby drinks 500ml of milk a day, it is equivalent to 0.013mg (the ratio of milk powder to milk is 1:8), which is more than 2,000 times away from the very conservative theoretical safe dose, so it is said to be "extremely low risk".

3. Is the vanillin “detected” “added”?

According to national standards, the maximum amount of vanillin used in milk powder of stage 2 and above is 400ppm. 0.2ppm of vanillin is not enough to affect the taste of milk powder, so isn't it unnecessary to add it? Therefore, it is impossible that the vanillin in stage 1 milk powder was added intentionally.

The official investigation concluded that the cleaning was not done properly when switching between different products. This is like going to a Hunan restaurant and telling the waiter "don't put chili in it", but the dish still tastes spicy because the pot is spicy. Milk powder production lines often produce multiple products intensively to improve equipment efficiency. There are not only stages 1, 2, and 3 here, but there may also be products supplied to other countries' markets, as is the case with Abbott's Ireland factory.

If the two products are very different, the company needs to disassemble the equipment and clean it thoroughly to avoid product confusion. But if the product difference is not that big, a common practice is to "flush" the pipes with clean base powder. This method is faster to switch, avoids the risk of external contamination when disassembling the pipes, and avoids additional disinfectant residues. The disadvantage is that it is difficult to achieve 100%, which is how vanillin was brought in.

4. What exactly is this “problem”?

When I was looking up information, I unexpectedly discovered that the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau had also announced a similar problem at the end of last year. That time it was HiPP, and the unqualified item was also vanillin, and the judgment result was "the inspection found that vanillin did not meet the national food safety standards." This is actually a commonplace problem.

The national standard for food additives (GB2760) is a "use standard" that specifies how additives should be used. It has never stipulated that vanillin "shall not be detected" in stage 1 milk powder, nor has it stipulated that "detection" can be considered "illegal use".

How to judge if vanillin is detected in stage 1 milk powder? The requirements of my country's regulatory authorities for infant milk powder manufacturers are to clear the site and record when switching products. This is the same as the management method abroad, but there are no clear regulations on how to clear the site. Vanillin is not measured in foreign countries, and the quality of infant formula in China is stricter than that in foreign countries, so this "problem" was discovered. As for how much detection is considered incomplete clearance, it depends on one's own opinion. But if it is judged as "not detectable", it is actually not very reasonable.

Ultimately, for companies, they still need to find ways to improve production processes, production equipment, production plans, etc., to minimize the cross-pollination of different batches of products. As for mothers who have already purchased and fed their babies, there is no need to be nervous. Just think of it as drinking some Dubai tycoon milk powder with insufficient vanillin.