Baby-milk officials under fire

The Department of Health is to review its handling of health scares after criticism from health visitors over delays in dealing with the salmonella outbreak linked to baby-milk powder, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

The Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association is to write to the Government to voice concerns over what it believes was a two-day delay in consulting health professionals. More than 10,000 worried mothers have called telephone hotlines for advice after a possible link between an outbreak of salmonella affecting 12 children and the product Milumil was announced. All packs of Milumil were withdrawn from sale while further tests were carried out.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We made every effort to get information to the public as quickly and efficiently as possible, but we can always learn from experience."