Nestlé Ghana has announced the withdrawal of all evaporated ideal and carnation tea creamer from the shelves temporarily.
According to the company, the withdrawal of the products from the shelves is to ensure that “consumers have the experience they deserve” and to reassure consumers of the “quality” of its products.
“This includes a recall of affected batches of IDEAL Evaporated Milk and CARNATION Tea Creamer, as requested by the Foods and Drugs Authority (FDA),” a statement issued by Nestlé on Monday, 17 January 2022 indicated.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has said there is no food safety issue with some coagulated Nestlé milk products (Carnation Milk and Ideal Milk) complained about by some consumers on social media.
The FDA, in a statement issued on Monday, 10 January 2022, said it requested “Nestlé to respond to the complaints and initiate a recall of affected batches,” in line with best regulatory practices following receipt of the consumer complaints.
The statement continued that the FDA has undertaken “comprehensive regulatory action to ensure that any safety concerns to consumers were immediately detected and dealt with.”
It noted: “A microbial analysis was conducted on samples taken from the manufacturing facility and complaint samples at the FDA laboratory”.
The “results from the analysis indicated that there was no microbial contamination of the samples and, therefore, there is no food safety issue with the said coagulated milk products from Nestlé.
“The analysis also confirmed that there was no leaching of dangerous chemicals from the inner (lacquer) lining into the milk product.”
It further said: “So far, the root cause analysis indicates that the skimmed milk powder (raw material) used to produce the milk complained of, has poor heat stability”.
“This results in the denaturing of the protein leading to coagulation of the milk.”
The FDA, however, indicated that denatured protein “poses no health risk.”
The FDA said the complained-of products are being recalled from the market.
“Batches of evaporated milk which were manufactured with the affected raw material are being recalled.”
A total number of 57,938 cans of the products have been retrieved by Nestlé nationwide.
The FDA further assured the general public that it is working with Nestlé to “ensure that the quality defect would not recur.”
