Danshar pulls Remedia's baby formula from shelves
Five years after vitamin deficiency causes multiple infant deaths, crippling, ill-fated formula will no longer be marketed in Israel
Danshar Holdings announced Sunday that it would be pulling Remedia's baby formula line off the shelves.
Once one of the leading baby formula brands in Israel, Remedia's products caused the deaths of three infants and severely debilitated 20 others in 2003.
A subsequent investigation revealed that the company's vegetarian baby formula was lacking in vitamin B1 (Thiamine), which is crucial to infants health.
The company's re-branding attempts over the years have failed, as poor sales and shrinking market share prompted Danshar to announce it would be halting the brand's import from the UK.
Remedia's baby food line, namely its porridge line, which is manufactured in Israel, stands to remain available in stores.
"We've stopped marketing the baby formula three months ago, for commercial reasons," confirmed Danshar owner Ron Barak. "We were only providing the brand with distribution services to begin with. We've since stopped importing it."
Danshar Holdings acquired Remedia from Noki Infant Products Ltd., owned by Yuval Levy, in 2007. Levy also sold Danshar his shares in Noki and Playtex.
The Israeli baby formula market is estimated at NIS 400 million ($111.14 million) a year. The baby porridge market is considered a small one, yielding NIS 40 ($11.1 million) million a year.
