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Baby becomes ill after drinking expired formula

By: Eva Cohen

18/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 98

A case of expired baby formula on the shelf at Shoppers Drug Mart the day after Jacob Emond got sick.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Enlarge Image

A case of expired baby formula on the shelf at Shoppers Drug Mart the day after Jacob Emond got sick.

A Winnipeg tot got sick this past weekend after drinking expired baby formula.

José Emond said he grabbed a can of Nestle Follow-up ready-to-serve infant formula at the Shoppers Drug Mart on Dakota Street early Sunday evening. He fed it to his nine-month-old son, Jacob, and within two hours the baby was throwing up.

Formula with a January 2009 expiry date is seen on a store shelf this weekend.

Enlarge Image

Formula with a January 2009 expiry date is seen on a store shelf this weekend. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

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The Emonds took Jacob to a walk-in clinic and the doctor said ingesting a new kind of formula should not have caused the baby to become sick. Only after she got home did Emond's wife, Melissa, see the formula's printed expiry date was Jan. 19, 2009.

José Emond then went to a baby nutrition specialist, who told him Jacob's reaction is typical when an infant ingests micro-organisms that form in expired food.

He said he called Shoppers' headquarters and they offered him a $100 Shoppers card, but that's not what he's concerned about.

"I want to make sure this stops happening," Emond said. When he returned to the store to confront the manager, Emond said, he saw two full cases with the same expiry date still on the shelf. A spokesperson for Shoppers Drug Mart told CTV News store shelves should be checked on a weekly basis.

The spokesperson said the items in question have been removed and protocols have been improved to make sure it doesn't happen again.

eva.cohen@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 18, 2009 B1

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98 Commentscomment icon

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motherof2 - You're absolutely right, and I do apologize. I can tell by the tone of your last post (which I really enjoyed, btw) that my comment caused hurt & I should have considered that possibility before I spoke. I WAS out of line with my reaction to what you had said in prior comments.

Best wishes :)

It's been 8 years since I have had the need to purchase baby formula. However, when I went to the store to stock up on formula, that was the first thing I looked at!

[edited] Yes, Shoppers Drug Mart does need to keep an eye on their stocks better, but the parents don't seem very clued in to what is going into their baby's mouth. If the child is 9/10 monthes... it shouldn't be hard to regulate what does into his mouth.... and it should definalty be done with a precaution. This is aweful of Shoppers, however the parents need to smarten up and take more time being cautious with their child. This mother and father have set up a facebook group, a youtube video and are commenting on this... perhaps if they spent as much time concerned about the well being of their son then they are of the attention this is being to them, this never would have happened. Smarten up "dad"

my concern with regards to the retailer is how much more expried formula was purchased by unspecting parents? I can't imagine that only a few cases of baby forula were left on the shelf. I think that the father has a legal case ahead of him. And the offering of $100.00 gift card was to buy this father his silence, thank goodness he didn't fall for it.

The argument over fault here is being clouded by the same confusion and "cognitive dissonance" that prevents police officers, nurses and crown attorneys from seeing gross professional misconduct by their peers.

"I'm a parent, parents are good people, they are motivated by wanting the best, therefore it cannot be the parents' fault, therefore it must be someone else's fault. Who else is there to blame."

That is cognitive dissonance, and you can do that with parent, police officer, nurse, MD, crown attorney, judge, or any similar occupation where most of the people in it are convinced they are all good virtuous people.

How do we escape the confusion caused by cognitive dissonance?

Change the profession of the person.

In this case the expiry date was apparently clearly visible and legible in large clear type on the package together with the words "Expiry Date".

* If this formula had been served to the baby at a hospital or care home whose fault would it have been?

(1) The store that sold the hospital the forumla? Or

(2) The "cook" who prepared the formula for the baby?

To me it the person who opens the package is ultimately responsible. So the cook or parent.

That doesn't mean the store didn't make a mistake.

But the final check on expired products is made when the "cook" opens the package.

And in this case the cook is the parent.

The Manitoba and Winnipeg * Health Departments * and stores need to do more to eliminate unreadable expiry dates and to enforce the regulations on expiry dates.

In too many cases expiry dates are not clearly printed on products.

I have even begun seeing coded expiry dates that are not readable by consumers. I believe these sorts of expiry dates violate Canadian business regulations on packaging.

Unique User Name

You don't know me anymore than I know you. I love and adore my children and my family. We are happy, have much love, healthy and enjoy life together as a family, what more could I ask for as a parent.

The "things" comment wasn't to show what I have, and was directed only at one person in response to a comment back to me. Furthermore that list was only to show what my responsibilities are at home. Not to show off. As I've already said you don't know me, no one here does so who exactly am I showing off too? A group of people that don't know me? Doesn't make much sense to me.

Yes I check expiry dates. It has become a habit for me over the years, just like brushing your teeth before you go to bed. I likely am a little A Type personality, and perhaps even paranoid due to past food poisoning I'm willing to admit that.

So sue me, I check the expiry dates on my kids milk before I serve it and take a sniff just to be sure.

I don't see the word "never", & the only "always" you've conveniently taken out of context & yes you know who you are too.

But to say you know me, or that there is no love or happiness in my life is out of line at best.

To the parents of baby Jacob, I'm glad your son is okay that is more important than anything. I hope you bringing forward your concerns helps to make stores more accountable for stock on their shelves and that people in general are more aware. There was never any blame intended to you as parents.

Unique - obviously you haven't read all the posts. Don't pick on someone because they try to do the right thing (checking expiry dates, making sure their family is happy and healthy). Your jealousy astounds me - at least, jealousy is the only motivator I see in your attack.

Your kidding me right... people are actually going to try and blame the parents here? Seriously? Oh that's right, when all else fails blame the parents (even when someone else is at fault) - I had almost forgotten that is the ways our society has become. So if that's the case explain to me then why when you buy something from a store and realize once you have gotten home that it's broken, you take it back expecting a refund or exchange? Because you believe it's the responsibility of the store to sell products that are properly functioning, and reliable. Why else would you return it. I can expect a store to shelve items that may be past due with in a week or so but NOT nine months. That is inexcusable. Stores have a duty to provide safe and quality items and the bottom line here is that they didn't. How do we know dad didn't mistake the expiry date believing it was the January coming up? That's an easy mistake that any one of us could make based on the belief that the store would not have such an old item on the shelf.To begin judging these parents on issues such as age, parenting skill and weather or not the mother can breast feed is absolutely ludacris. What difference does it make how old they are? How does that have ANY baring on what stores have in stock. I took my kids out to eat one time and they got food poisoning. Am I to blame because we didn't ask the chef the expiration date of each ingrident? Come on! The world has simply gone mad!

Dad - I hope baby is ok

From the very first comment to the last we've seen all kinds of criticisms, judgements, and self righteous attitudes. You know who you are!

Anyone who says that they ALWAYS do this, or NEVER do that is full of it and everyone knows it. Enough already!

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