Hybrid event
Date & Time: Friday, May 22, 2026 @ 13:00 – 14:20
Event Address: WHO Headquarters, Garden Room T – Geneva, Switzerland
Contact: prundall@babymilkaction.org
In-person attendance: Register CLICK HERE
Live online – no registration needed CLICK HERE (Password: Formula4!)
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 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 had on all families, especially those in the Global South and in emergency contexts where testing, detection, treatment and safe alternatives may be limited.
The event will call on Member States to work toward better mandatory food safety during manufacturing, independent oversight of food operators, better warning systems for health care professionals and parents and an equipped health care system to monitor and document health problems during outbreaks. Full implementation of WHO recommendations and resolutions are essential safeguards for all infants – those who are breastfed and those who are fed commercial milk formulas.
Online promotion of breastmilk substitutes (forbidden by WHA78.18) creates dependence on commercial products beyond the actual need. Exports of these products exacerbates the inherent safety risks of formula use and creates problems for recalls.
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 the food system needs to change and how whistle-blowers need to be heard and protected.
