Israel's Baby Formula Tragedy

[Herschel]

) The Israeli Mossad and Shin Bet secret service agencies have joined the investigation of a faulty baby formula that has been linked to the deaths of three infants, an Israeli newspaper said Monday.

The kosher formula, made for Remedia by the German company Humana Milchunion, does not contain Vitamin B1, even though the package said the product included the essential nutrient.

It is also sold in the United States to ultra-Orthodox Jewish families, and has been taken off shelves in heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in New York. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported Monday that a baby who had been fed the milk substitute was in serious condition in a Boston hospital.

The head of the Israeli health ministry, Boaz Lev, raised the possibility of sabotage to the kosher soy-based milk substitute, saying "it is impossible to know if this is intentional or not."

Israel's police are beginning a criminal investigation into possible manslaughter charges, police officials said Monday.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/10/health/main582728.shtml

=========================

Faulty kosher formula made by a German company. Very interesting. I will leave it at that.

[Darranar]

1. Must everything be a conspiracy?

[Herschel]

3. Let the story develop

I would not be surprised if there were sabotage.

[Darranar]

5. I will...

I simply will not assume that because this is a German company (really, what does that have to do with anything?) that it was sabatoge.

[mmm]

6. strange...

very strange.

[bluesoul]

14. Some

really do like to make conclusions without even knowing what it was really about...

[rini]

23. Hercshel did not blame anyone

"The head of the Israeli health ministry, Boaz Lev, raised the possibility of sabotage to the kosher soy-based milk substitute, saying "it is impossible to know if this is intentional or not."

This tragedy is probably a sad incident of stupidity. Was it criminal, that's for investigators, German and Israeli to find out. Bottom line is this is a tragedy and the only person to acknowledge this is Gimel. For shame.

[Darranar]

24. See the bottom post on this thread...

yes, it is a tragedy, and Gimel is most certainly not the only person to acknowledge it.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. Heinz is a German company? Is this the same one that makes ketchup?

I thought they were in the US.

They make great ketchup.

[mmm]

7. I LOVES ketchup!

and hot dogs are yummy, as well

[Gimel]

11. Heinz at fault?

Heinz owns 51% of the company, but doesn't make this product. Remedia is an Israeli company that repackages and sells the product. In between, there is the producer Humana Milchunion. It is not assumed that it is intentional, but there are two court suits (millions of shekels) filed against the company. They have some expaining to do, and all there is to date are denials. There infants have dies, and several are in critical condition with serious brain damage. The lack of Vitimin B1 (thiamine) in infants is life threatening.

[Ilsa]

4. I think you might be surprised at how many formula recalls

we have in the US. (Try googling "formula recalls".) It is usually over something like inaccurate mixing instructions for powdered formula, but sometimes it is due to contamination by E. coli or salmonella or glass shards. One time a few years ago, a company put their brand equivalent of Ensure in ready-to-pour cans. No telling how many babies got really sick over that one.

Formula feeding is not risk free.

[Jackie97]

8. It could be sabatoge.

It could also be where a lazy or stressed out factory worker made a mistake during production. I'm sure that this is probably the case. This person/people need to be fired along with being held legally responsible.

[DuctapeFatwa]

9. Maybe Shin Bet should "interrogate" all Heinz employees

With their skill, it shouldn't take too long for at least one to confess sneaking Yasser Arafat into the factory to poison the formula.

[Gimel]

13. How unusual

Only the Kosher formula seems to have been effected. It is not known if it was intentional, and no one is saying that it is. It needs investigation, and who ever is responsible for this tragic error should be held accountable.

I wouldn't be surprised if some one did sabatoge it intentionally.

[Jackie97]

22. As another poster pointed out.....

Recalls on formulas are common. It tends to happen because somebody in the factories, labs, or elsewhere made a terrible mistake. That probably is what happened here.

That doesn't mean that there shouldn't be an investigation though. I just worry about it turning into a witchcraft hunt for "Jew killers". I'd hate for every pro-Palestinian, Christian who says that the Jews and everybody else is going to Hell, every Muslim, every Arab, whoever other "controversal" character in the place to end up getting investigated.

[RuB]

10. Until the truth be told I will from now on boycott Heinz. eom

[BushCutters]

12. Watch it!

You're bordering on attacking Kerry with that post!

[GabysPoppy]

15. Latest update on this story

German Company Removed the Vitamin
16:07 Nov 11, '03 / 16 Cheshvan 5764


The Remedia beriberi crisis took a dramatic turn today, when the company's attorney told a Knesset committee that the German manufacturer of the soy-based baby-formula had consciously removed Vitamin B1 from the ingredients. The manufacturer - Humana GmbH, part of a collective that is Germany's second biggest producer of milk products - reportedly removed the vitamin because it was already found in sufficient quantities in the soy on which the product was based. This, however, leaves unanswered the question of why no B1 at all was found in the latest Health Ministry tests of the product.

http://directory.kol-israel.com/asites/?

[Kellanved]

20. that is being investigated

Both Israeli and German inspectors are currently turning the factory inside out in order to get to the bottom of this tragedy. The stored samples are being anlyzed.

First tets showed, that B1 wasn't in the product in sufficient doses. The company claims that the error occured because of incorrect calculations after switching to a new recipe supplied by Heinz.
Humana will seek an agreement with the parents.

[Forkboy]

16. It's a nazi baby-formula company

obviously.

[Herschel]

17. Invoking the Nazis

in an attempt to make light of dead Jewish babies is reprehensible. I will leave it at that.

[bluesoul]

18. You were the one

who started it....

[Forkboy]

19. Oh save it Hersch

You certainly implied that yourself.Oh,my :eyes:

on edit-and unlike me Hersch YOU were serious.I will leave it at that.

[Kellanved]

21. A terrible tragedy

A terrible tragedy and the Humana company is at fault.

However I don't get your line. The Milk is produced under the supervision of a Rabbi for an Israeli company. Nothing indicates any other reason other than human error.
Investigations will have to uncover why the error wasn't spotted in time.