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Emily Hung

Hong Kong health authorities have confirmed that no child has shown signs of poisoning after drinking a batch of infant formula found to contain excessive levels of lead.
The Department of Health gave an update on Wednesday, a month after Macau authorities alerted the public that a batch of Frisolac Prestige Stage 1 infant formula, manufactured by the Dutch company Royal FrieslandCampina, might contain lead levels exceeding permissible limits.
The department said its dedicated hotline and the maternal and child health centres had received 762 relevant inquiries.
Health officers provided advice on switching infant formula and referred 446 babies and young children to public hospitals for assessment and follow-up. Among them, 237 had undergone clinical assessments.
“Results indicated that their overall health is good and that none have shown signs of lead poisoning,” the department said.
The rest were either pending assessment or the parents had decided not to proceed with check-ups, it added.
The hotline will cease operations at 6pm on Friday as the number of inquiries in recent weeks declined.
The department advised parents to seek medical advice if their children were feeling unwell.
The Centre for Food Safety, which ordered the recall of the product, said it had stepped up surveillance of lead content in powdered infant and follow-up formula in the market.
No cases have been found to exceed Hong Kong’s statutory standard for lead so far.
Macau authorities flagged safety concerns in late July after some samples from a batch contained 0.2mg/kg of lead – 10 times the maximum legal limit of 0.02mg/kg for such goods.
The Dutch maker of Friso insisted that the product was safe and said third-party quality testing had found that their products complied with Hong Kong and Macau standards.


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Royal FrieslandCampina, which manufactures the Friso milk formula brand, earlied stressed that third-party testing confirmed the batch complied with standards. Photo: Sun Yeung

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News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Officials say all 237 children are healthy after consuming Friso batch flagged by Macau authorities


Officials say all 237 children are healthy after consuming Friso batch flagged by Macau authorities.


Macau

No lead poisoning cases found among children after infant formula scare

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Officials say all 237 children are healthy after consuming Friso batch flagged by Macau authorities

Officials say all 237 children are healthy after consuming Friso batch flagged by Macau authorities