In September 2005, Italian regulators notified Nestlé SA that routine laboratory testing had detected isopropylthioxanthone (ITX)—a photoinitiator used in offset printing of packaging—in samples of Nidina and Latte Mio liquid infant milks. Nestlé had used the same Tetra Pak carton format for roughly a decade; the chemical appeared to migrate from printed carton surfaces into fatty milk products, particularly when exposed to ultraviolet light during storage or distribution.
Tetra Pak removed ITX from affected infant-formula cartons in October 2005 once the migration pathway was identified. Nestlé initially treated the issue as a packaging concern rather than an acute food-safety crisis, but Italian authorities escalated seizures in November after further testing indicated cartons with September 2006 expiry dates could contain ITX. Italian judicial orders referenced up to 30 million liters subject to seizure, while Nestlé stated roughly 2 million liters were recalled in Italy with smaller volumes in France, Spain, and Portugal.
The incident traveled through the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed. Italy requested European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) evaluation of ITX, with preliminary results expected within weeks and a final report targeted for March 2006. Nestlé replaced affected packaging with alternative formats; new batches carried sell-by dates from October 2006 onward for liquid Nidina 2 and July 2006 for liquid Nidina 1.
For packaging converters and ink suppliers, the recall underscored migration risk beyond direct food-contact layers. Offset inks on outer carton surfaces, UV-cured formulations, and photoinitiator selection became board-level topics for QA teams serving dairy and infant-nutrition accounts. Brand owners accelerated scrutiny of print chemistry even when packaging structures had long field histories.
The ITX case also influenced how regulators and retailers viewed printed flexible and semi-rigid formats. Converters were asked to document ink formulations, barrier layers, and storage conditions with greater rigor—setting expectations that would intensify when benzophenone migration surveys and EU good-manufacturing-practice rules followed later in the decade.