IBFAN, the 47 year old global network, will be attending 158th Session of the WHO’s Executive Board that will start in Geneva on Monday 2nd February 2026.
IBFAN will be urging Member States to adopt a new World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution that could reduce contamination for infants, our most vulnerable population.
Intrinsic contamination of powdered infant formula products has been commonplace for one reason or another for decades, prompting numerous product recalls and harm to children. The Cronobacter contamination recalls of 2022/23 in the US led to lawsuits linked to fatal intestinal illnesses in premature babies, factory closures and serious supply chain shortages.
In November 2025 the US company ByHeart, backed by AI, social media and Vape investors (1) recalled formulas contaminated with Clostridium botulinum and 51 infants were hospitalised with botulism. Unconstrained by legislation based on the WHO’s International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, that forbids idealisation and commercial promotion, ByHeart claimed that its products had undergone ‘rigorous testing going above and beyond what is required’ and are ‘filled with ingredients backed by breast milk science in every scoop”. And because ByHeart’s sold its formula online it was shipped to countries outside the USA where products are not registered or regulated at national level and where diagnosis for Botulism is restricted and access to treatment reduced. The misleading idealising messages were designed to persuade parents to trust the company.
In January this year Nestlé formulas contaminated with cereulide, a toxin produced by Bacillus cereus, were recalled from over 60 countries, a recall described as the biggest in the history of the company. Nestlé has been trying to pass blame for the outbreak onto the ingredient supplier, but refused to name Cabio Biotech, a Chinese company based in Wuhan. The Bacillus cereus problem has now spread to Lactalis, Danone and Hochdorf and the baby food industry is said to be in crisis, with judicial inquiries into the deaths of babies in France and lawsuits about the recall delays and Nestlé’s lack of transparency.
These contamination outbreaks are exposing systemic failures in formula production and serious gaps in regulatory surveillance, transparency and crisis communication. The significant concern for WHO, for families and for global health is that the WHO Guidelines on the Safe preparation, storage and handling of powdered infant formula and the Codex Code of Hygienic Practice for Powdered Formulae for Infants and Young Children are both nearly 20 years old. They were designed to help parents and carers eliminate contaminants such as Cronobacter and Salmonella from powdered infant formula and do not address Clostridium botulinum or Bacillus cereus and heat-resistant spores, that are not eliminated by reconstituting the powder with water at 70 degrees (the current advised lethal step). A new WHA Resolution is needed to speed up the revision of Codex Alimentarius and WHO Guidelines, and ensure that food safety systems and surveillance is free from commercial interference.
Notes:
ByHeart & Botulism: serious food safety failings expose online marketing risks December 2026
Nestlé’s credibility questioned as formulas recalled in 60+ countries over contamination risk. Jan 2026
What does $300 million to ‘disrupt formula’ look like? It looks like these tech bros making BANK from breastfeeding struggles. Let’s meet the ByHeart investors, shall we? Radical Mums Union. JAN 27, 2026
Patti Rundall,
Policy Director, IBFAN Global Advocacy
Baby Milk Action/IBFAN UK,
Cambridge UK
Mobile: 07786 523493
prundall@babymilkaction.org
www.babymilkaction.org/news/policy
http://www.babymilkaction.org/tigers
UK Member of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), a global network of over 300 groups in 114 countries. www.ibfan.org
Member of the Conflict of Interest Coalition: 162 public interest organisations representing over 2000 NGOs, united by the common objective of safeguarding public health policy-making against commercial conflicts of interests. The Conflict of Interest Network (COIN) is the formally constituted organisation that builds on the Conflict of Interest Statement.
Member of the Baby Feeding Law Group a coalition of leading health professional and lay organisations working to bring UK and EU legislation in line with World Health Assembly Resolutions. https://www.bflg-uk.org
Patron of First Steps Nutrition Trust, the independent public health nutrition charity that provides information and resources to support eating well from pre-conception to five years. www.firststepsnutrition.org
Member IBFAN’s Codex team. Also a representative of the European Network of Childbirth Associations (ENCA) and the International Association of Consumer Food Organisations (IACFO)
Member of the interagency collaboration Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Core Group the IFYCFEhub is a global portal to resources related to infant and young child nutrition in humanitarian contexts, including the Operational Guidance on Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies. The IFYCE repository