Woodkirk Stone
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has warned against the illegal sale of rice-based infant and follow-on formula online.
These formulas are not authorized for sale in Europe, as they do not meet the nutritional needs of infants. They may be allowed if they are classified as foods for special medical purposes for people with lactose intolerance or cow’s milk allergy.
The agency’s advice is that infants and young children up to 4½ years old should not consume rice milk as a substitute for cow’s milk, breast milk or other types of infant formula due to risk of exposure to inorganic arsenic.
The EU regulation on infant formula and follow-on formula made from protein hydrolysates was updated in 2021. Cow’s milk and goat’s milk proteins or proteins isolated from soy or protein hydrolysates made from demineralized whey protein from cow’s milk are permitted, but the use of protein hydrolysates derived from rice is not permitted.
Arsenic exposure problems
Previous research in 2009 detected low levels of inorganic arsenic in rice milk.
A rice-based infant and follow-on formula, Prémibio Prémiriz from France, is available to buy online via the Sanareva.co.uk website.
The warning about the unauthorized sale of organic hydrolyzed rice protein infant formula also includes insufficient labeling and follows a consumer complaint.
The FSAI said it has contacted authorities in the UK and other EU countries to halt sales of the product in Europe from the website. The agency is also reaching out to hospitals and public health professionals to let them know about the online sales.
Pamela Byrne, chief executive of the FSAI, said arsenic is found in the environment and can be present in a range of foods, including rice, at low levels.
“The toxicity of arsenic depends on the form in which it is present, which is either organic or inorganic. The inorganic form is the most toxic form and the FSAI states that exposure to it should be kept as low as reasonably possible. As a precaution, to reduce exposure to inorganic arsenic, parents and guardians should not give these foods to infants and young children up to 4.5 years old,” she said.
Research needs
The FSAI has also published its 2022 Research Needs Report which contains priority areas that would contribute to the agency’s risk assessment and management work and support the protection of public health.
Food safety research is important for highlighting risks and finding potential control measures, filling knowledge gaps to support regulation, and identifying emerging issues and threats to the food system.
The FSAI is not a research funding body, so to raise awareness of the need, it lists areas to help agencies that fund such projects and scientists in research institutes.
Examples are vulnerability assessments on the supply chains of beef, pork, poultry and whitefish products; synthetic biology food safety trends and risks; the chemical and microbiological safety of plant-based meat substitutes; impact of the circular economy on food security; and the effects that the proposed reductions in the maximum levels of nitrates and nitrites might have on meat products.
Projects funded include one on the increasing risk of paralytic shellfish poisoning in Ireland led by the Marine Institute, another on the risk of exposure to mycotoxins led by University College Dublin and one on the detection of E. Shiga toxin-producing coli (STEC) in water.
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