On August 9, 2012 Hong Kong said that it will test the babies who have consumed their Japanese-made infant formulas. The formulas were found to have insufficient levels of iodine after the products were ordered off the city shelves.
The officials found that the Wakodo and Morinaga brands had lacked enough iodine and even warned that they could have adverse health effects on the babies’ thyroid glands and brains. A spokesperson at the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said “We urge parents to take their babies to the 10 government-designated health centers for blood tests”.
The spokesperson added that around 2,000 babies could be affected. The government after the findings had ordered the two products to be removed from the shop shelves after the findings from the random tests on 14 milk brands.
The products which are meant for babies aged up to nine months have been banned after they were found to contain less than one third of the World Health Organization’s recommended levels of iodine, which is an essential nutrient for the infant development. The Centre For Food and Safety in a statement said that this might affect the functioning of the thyroid gland. The government also said that it would continue to test other brands also.
