The Warehouse sold me expired infant formula, says mum

Keerthana's baby developed a fever, started vomiting and had diarrhoea. Photo / Chris Loufte

An Auckland mother whose 11-month-old daughter drank expired infant formula has lashed out at the Warehouse for stocking the out-of-date product.

Keerthana Yogendran, 26, told the Weekend Herald that she bought the Karicare Goldplus formula from the Downtown Shopping Centre Warehouse in Auckland last Wednesday.

When her daughter Joanna, who has been taking formula milk since she was six months, came down with a fever, started vomiting and had diarrhoea, she became suspicious of the product.

"I brought it home and gave it to the baby for three days. I felt that she wasn't well and I just suddenly checked the back of the can and it had expired four months ago. I was just so worried."

Joanna took several days to return to normal health and had not had any formula for a week, Mrs Yogendran said.

"I'm just giving her normal food, trying to get the formula out of her [system]. I'm scared to give her formula right now."

Mrs Yogendran said when she approached the Warehouse about the expired formula "they didn't even seem to care".

Staff offered to exchange the product and did not seem concerned about Joanna, she said.

A Warehouse spokeswoman confirmed Mrs Yogendran had returned to its downtown store with the tin of expired formula last Saturday.

"Our store manager apologised and expressed his concern for the situation and offered the customer a full refund for the product as well as a gift card by way of apology," spokeswoman Julia Morton said.

"While the customer was still in the store, our store manager re-checked the store's shelves for any other expired stock but could not find any.

"In addition, the store manager took the action of checking with the Karicare helpline, who advised it was highly unlikely to cause constipation.

"There was also no way to confirm whether Mrs Yogendran had bought the tin after it had expired," Ms Morton said.

"The Warehouse stores follow an independently audited set of food safety processes that comply fully with the Food Act 1981.

"These processes include weekly checks of product expiry dates, an ongoing stock rotation policy as product arrives into stock rooms, and a manual procedure of pulling older stock to the front of shelves and placing newer stock at the back," she said.

A spokeswoman from Nutricia, which produces Karicare formula, said the company was "deeply concerned" about Mrs Yogendran's situation.

"We are not still selling this batch," Jacquelynne Willcox said.

"Our products are typically made and sold to customers within a few weeks of manufacture, therefore leaving close to the maximum 18 months of use-by time.

"Once product is sold to retailers, they will rotate product on-shelf to ensure [the] consumer receives fresh stock for purchase."

This appears not to have happened in this situation and Nutricia has since offered to replace the product, Ms Willcox said.