Baby falls ill after consuming ingredient disguised as formula

The baby drank three bottles before the mum noticed something wasn't right. Photo / 123rf

Police in Arizona, US, are investigating several reports of parents reportedly purchasing tampered baby formula that had been replaced with baking flour.

At least one child has fallen sick from ingesting the baking flour.

Madeline Roque said her 9-month-old daughter Adeline became sick after drinking what the mum thought was baby formula, which she had purchased from Walmart.

The baby drank three bottles before the mum noticed something wasn't right. She said her daughter had been vomiting, passing a lot of gas and just overall showing signs of being unwell.

"I just thought she was going through the teething process. She gets cranky," Roque told Phoenix's KPNX.

"On the fourth bottle, when I was making it, I did realise something was definitely wrong. The colour was different, the texture was different, so I just knew it wasn't milk."

The mum let the bottle sit and noticed the mixture separated, which doesn't happen with baby formula.

"And then when I poured it from the bottle into the sink I saw how it got, that's when it hit me," Roque said. "I saw how it clumped up and I'm like, oh my god, my daughter's stomach is just the same or worse."

"You don't know they're allergic [or] if her throat had closed up from a gluten reaction," the distressed mum said.

She reported the incident to Walmart who said they would investigate the claim.

A couple was arrested in Arizona last month for allegedly running a baby formula theft ring.

Before being arrested, they allegedly managed to earn nearly half a million dollars in income from that theft.