Hundreds of angry parents across the UK are complaining on social media that their babies have become ill after drinking Aptamil baby milk, with symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea. However, Danone, which makes Aptamil baby milk, claims that there are “no safety issues” regarding its product.

French food giant Danone has recently amended the recipe of three of Aptamil baby milk’s formulas- Aptamil First Infant Milk powder (stage 1: from birth), Aptamil Follow On Milk powder (stage 2: from 6-12 months), and Aptamil Growing Up Milk powders (stages 3 & 4: From one to three years). However, after the revision, parents from the UK flooded to Aptaclub UK Facebook pages (a customer service page for Aptamil products) to blame the formula changes for their babies' illnesses. 

According to a netizen, after following the instructions and within 5 minutes, her son was being sick.

Parents also noticed that the milk powder did not dissolve in the bottles well, “leaving clumps of residue in the bottle”. 

Aptaclub UK responded quickly, saying that it had carried out extensive safety checks, but added that it has been listening to the feedback from parents and was willing to investigate the issues. Also, it was sorry to parents who felt “let down” by the brand following the instruction of the new formulas.

"We apologize if any of our valued customers feel let down by our brand, we never wanted parents to feel this way. The safety and quality of our products is our number one priority and we would like to reassure parents that all our formula milks go through strict safety and quality checks and we can confirm they are safe to consume,” said Aptaclub UK  in a Facebook post on July 7.

However, the company insisted that the products were well tolerated by babies and safe to consume. "We have had good mixing results when the product is mixed in line with instructions. The new formula needs to be shaken vigorously for at least ten seconds for the powder to dissolve properly," the firm said. “We acknowledge that with hindsight we could have made the changes to the mixing instructions clearer and we will take action on this, particularly across our consumer and social media channels," it added.

There are also some parents complaining about the reduced size of the milk – it used to be 900g per tub, while after the revision, it is 800g per tub, yet the price remains the same.

Aptamil baby milk is also popular in China, and some young parents often buy the product from professional shoppers from the UK. Until now, there have been no cases of babies being ill after drinking Aptamil baby milk in China.