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Texas Halts Contaminated Infant Formula Shipments To Mexico

November 2, 2004

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Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has obtained an emergency restraining order and asset freeze to stop an unlicensed food manufacturer and distributor from shipping contaminated infant formula into Mexico.

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The formula, contaminated with dirt and flies and approved only for use as animal feed, was found in the El Paso warehouse of Milky Way Traders Inc.

"We have asked Mexican health officials to work with us to seize this product and bring those responsible to justice," said Attorney General Abbott. "We are committed to protecting the health and safety of Texas children, and when a Texas company acts recklessly so as to endanger infants of families in Mexico, we will take prompt action to stop it."

State health officials and investigators with the Attorney General's Office believe that Milky Way Traders and its owner, Yvon Belliard, falsely represented to health officials that the product was being sold as animal feed, while they actually sold it in Mexico as infant formula. Investigators seized an invoice for one truck shipment of 22 pallets of contaminated formula. The El Paso company reports annual revenues of about $15 million.

Health investigators report that the company mixes dried dairy products in unsanitary conditions, then packages the mixture and labels it for human consumption.

Inspectors with the Texas Department of State Health Services issued a detention order on October 8 after they found the company large quantities of contaminated infant formula set aside for shipment to Mexico, believed to be for human consumption.

Inspectors discovered late last week that some of the product previously ordered detained could no longer be found in the warehouse. Further inspection revealed that the product was being loaded onto trucks for shipment into Mexico.

The Attorney General's Office will seek temporary and permanent injunctions against Milky Way Traders, as well as civil penalties of up to $25,000 per day per violation of the Texas Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

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