Another Japanese baby milk brand, Meiji, has been found to contain too little of the nutrient iodine, the Centre for Food Safety said yesterday.
Four samples of baby formula failed to meet World Health Organisation standards in tests by the centre: one under the Meiji brand, two from Morinaga and another from Wakodo. Other products produced under the latter two brands were revealed on Wednesday to be deficient in iodine.
A lack of iodine can harm the development of the thyroid gland and affect brain function. The centre urged parents not to feed their babies formula from the three brands.
Babies fed on the Morinaga and Wakodo brands started having blood tests to check their thyroid function yesterday at the city's 10 Maternal and Child Health Centres.
Nearly 100 babies have been signed up for the tests.
While the risk of brain damage due to iodine deficiency is low, many parents queuing for blood tests at the Sai Wan Ho health centre said they had stopped feeding their babies formula from Wakodo and Morinaga.
'I'm not sure which one I'm going to use now, but it's definitely not going to be a Japanese brand,' one parent said. One Japanese mother who has lived in Hong Kong for three years said she started using Wakodo because her friends were using it.