Over the years misleading marketing and intrinsic contamination of commercial formula – a child’s first taste of ultra-processed products – has led to infant fatalities, factory closures, interrupted supplies and distress to families. The detection of a new type of spore-forming contamination since November 2025 has led to ongoing recalls from over 130 countries, judicial inquiries into infant deaths in France and legal challenges about delays, lack of transparency, fraud and manslaughter.

As global networks, IBFAN and ILCA will focus on the impact this crisis has on all families, especially those in the Global South and in emergency contexts where testing, detection, treatment and safe alternatives may be limited.  Families that are often forgotten.

The event will call on Member States to work towards a more resilient first-food systems, with mandatory independent oversight of manufacturing facilities, with health care systems that warn,  monitor and document health problems during outbreaks.  Full implementation of WHO recommendations and resolutions are essential safeguards for all babies – those who are breastfed and those who are fed formulas.

The online promotion formula (forbidden by  WHA78.18)  creates dependence on commercial products beyond the actual need. Cross border sales exacerbate the inherent safety risks of formula use, allowing products to enter countries where they may not be registered and are difficult to track.  Meanwhile, the baby food industry has passed blame to external suppliers, claimed there is no causal link with their products and that they are acting “out of an abundance of caution.”

This food crisis illustrates the risks of allowing food systems to be dependent on a handful of corporations, with a single global ingredient, sourced from one supplier, causing immense harm.  Alongside speakers from WHO, UNICEF, Parliamentarians and Member States, Yasmine Motarjemi, a food safety expert with a unique experience as head of Food Safety Departments in both WHO and Nestlé, will explain how food systems and food culture needs to change and why whistleblowers need to be heard and protected.