Baby food: How big is the milk powder scandal?

Cases of contaminated baby milk are causing a stir in France. Families are also reporting in Germany – but the reports are getting bogged down in a confusion of responsibilities.

March 18, 2026, 6:03 p.m

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Article summary

Nestlé and Danone are recalling milk powder worldwide that is contaminated with the toxin cereulide. In Germany there is a lack of information about the extent and possible diseases. In France, the public prosecutor’s office is investigating the deaths of three infants. Corporations emphasize security, but information policy raises questions. Parents are worried, authorities are divided – a scandal with many unanswered questions.

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Insa Backhaus came across the warning from Nestle. At the beginning of January, she was looking for products for her nine-month-old daughter on the food company’s website when she learned about possibly contaminated milk powder. Then it clicked: Her daughter had been regularly vomiting profusely about 30 minutes after taking the bottle. Backhaus mixed the bottle with milk powder from Nestlé.

She dismissed her daughter’s vomiting at Christmas as an unusually long gastrointestinal infection – just like her pediatrician. “Now I had an explanation,” says the medical sociologist. Backhaus contacted Nestlé because the cans were among the affected batches that the company had recalled. She stopped giving her milk overnight – her daughter immediately felt better and kept her food down again.