This article examines infant formula contamination as a systemic failure of global food safety governance, using the 2025–2026 multi-country cereulide contamination event as a contemporary case study. The analysis situates this event within a broader pattern of recurrent global food safety crises, including the 2008 melamine contamination in China, the 2017–2018 Salmonella outbreak in France, and the 2022 Cronobacter-related supply disruption in the United States. Across these cases, consistent structural failures are identified, including upstream supply chain opacity, fragmented and nationally bounded recall systems, delayed risk detection and communication, and the persistence of contaminated products at the household level. The article introduces a systemic failure framework integrating five interconnected domains of risk: supply chain opacity, recall fragmentation, delayed detection and communication, household-level exposure persistence, and limitations in traceability and digital integration. These interconnected vulnerabilities demonstrate that infant formula contamination is not an isolated anomaly but a predictable outcome of fragmented and reactive global food safety systems. The findings highlight the need for structural reform toward proactive, globally coordinated governance, including real-time international recall systems, strengthened upstream traceability, mandatory rapid public disclosure, and direct-to-consumer risk communication mechanisms. Protecting infants—the most vulnerable population—requires a transition from reactive responses to integrated, transparent, and preventive global food safety governance.
Giorgi Pkhakadze (Thu,) studied this question.