Fact Check

Banana Baby Food Glass Warning

Banana baby food recalled due to glass in the product?

Published July 6, 2011

Claim:

Claim:   Banana baby food is being recalled due to glass in the product.


MIXTURE:







TRUE: Nestlé France recalled a batch of banana baby food in June 2011 because a piece of glass was found in one jar.
 
FALSE: Gerber recalled a batch of banana baby food because it may contain glass.


Examples:


[Collected via e-mail, July 2011]

PRODUCT RECALL. Important alert for all parents, Nestle is asking everyone to return all banana baby food expiring 2012; they may contain pieces of glass. Please copy and paste for all moms and babies safety. bar code 7613033089732.
 


[Collected via e-mail, July 2011]

IMPORTANT ALERT: Gerber is asking everyone to return all banana baby food expiring 2012; they may contain pieces of glass. Barcode 7613033089736. Please pass on!
 


[Collected via e-mail, November 2012]

NEWBORNS!!!!! URGENT!!!! For all parents Nestle is asking everyone to return all GERBER BANANA BABY FOOD Expiring 2012 because they may contain glass. Please copy and paste for all babies safety. Batch code 761303308973, even if you are not a parent please copy you could save a baby's life,,


 

Origins:   On 30 June 2011, Nestlé France announced it had voluntarily recalled one batch of its P’tit Pot recette Banane baby food following the discovery of glass in the product by a consumer. While the find was confined to one piece of glass in only one jar, nevertheless the company instituted a recall of the entire batch, which amounted to more than 30,000 containers of baby food. The bar code on the recalled products was 7 613033089732, with an expiry date of October 2012 and a batch number of L 10980295.

To date, no other bits of glass have been found in other jars.

Said Nestlé of its recall of the suspect batch:



Please note that this batch of P’tit Pot recette Banane baby food is only sold in France - no other countries, brands or batches are affected.

The nature of rumor being what it is, the announcement of a limited recall involving one batch of one flavor of baby food in one country quickly morphed into

Recalled banana baby food

alerts that encompassed other countries and manufacturers. Spread by e-mail and social media networks such as Facebook, breathless warnings trumpeted a danger inherent to all banana baby food produced by Nestlé anywhere in the world. But the madness didn't stop there — Gerber was incorrectly fingered in many of the warnings as the company with glass in its baby food.

Simply put, if the baby food you're concerned about doesn't look like the picture shown in this article, don't worry about it.

One piece of glass. One jar. In banana baby food sold only in France.

Barbara "baby food for thought" Mikkelson

Last updated:   13 November 2012


Sources:




    Harrington, Rory,   "Nestle Orders French Baby Food Recall on Glass Contamination Fears."

    FoodProductionDaily.com.   30 June 2011.


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