Five years after three babies died and more than 20 suffered long-term neurological, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal injuries as a result of ingesting faulty formula, the Remedia brand infant formula will finally disappear from Israeli store shelves.
Dansher, the Israeli distributor of Remedia for the last year and a half, decided to stop selling Remedia products after a sharp drop in sales, with only a few hundred customers a month remaining for the formula. Five years ago, the German firm Humana, makers of Remedia, failed to inform the Israeli public that they had omitted a critical vitamin for the development of newborns, vitamin B1, otherwise known as thiamin, from their soy-based baby formula, despite labeling on the package to the contrary. Approximately 5,000 babies were fed the malnutritious formula.
Prior to the scandal, which result in several arrests in Israel and Germany, Remedia held about a third of the infant formula sector in Israel.