SINGAPORE – Nestle Singapore on

Jan 9

advised consumers to follow the Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) guidance after

the regulator announced late on

Jan 8

that it had

of the

Swiss food giant’s

infant and follow-on formulas

following reports of possible contamination.

The SFA, together with the

Communicable Diseases Agency,

had also advised consumers who had bought the affected products not to feed them to children as a precaution

while checks were being carried out for the presence of the Cereulide toxin.

The SFA-CDA directive contradicted an earlier media reply by Nestle Singapore on

Jan 8. At about 5.50pm

,

Nestle Singapore had told ST that no stocks were being recalled in Singapore.

It added that only two batches of products needed additional review after a thorough check on all stocks, and that further lab testing found that these and all other products sold by Nestle Singapore were safe for consumption.

However, SFA and CDA issued a statement just hours later announcing the halt of sales.

In a reply to queries from The Straits Times on

Jan 9,

Nestle Singapore said that all five batches of the affected formulas have undergone thorough testing for Cereulide, a toxin produced by some strains of the Bacillus cereus bacterium

, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea.