The World Food Programme announced on Friday that it had suspended global distribution of a food supplement from one of its suppliers after three people died in Uganda and nearly 300 others fell ill.
Three people died and 293 were hospitalised in north-eastern Uganda in March and April after consuming the fortified, blended food, which is known as Super Cereal, the WFP said. The product is used worldwide by the WFP to prevent malnutrition, particularly in women and children. The WFP said preliminary investigations “have failed to conclusively find what caused the illness”. More than 2,400 laboratory tests have been conducted “but the root cause of the problem has not yet been established”, the agency said.
“This issue is unprecedented in its implications for WFP’s global supply chain,” the agency said in a statement. The WFP insisted it had “acted swiftly” to recall stocks in Uganda when concern about the product emerged.