The Bureau of Food and Drugs served the order on Tuesday, saying up to 4.3 million cans and cartons of Wyeth’s powdered baby milk may have been affected, Health Undersecretary Alexander Padilla said.

He said the order was made after verifying confidential information that the baby milk had been exposed to the elements during a powerful typhoon in the Philippines last year, but not immediately recalled. Wyeth, however, insisted the quality of the milk powder was not affected, and that only the packaging had been damaged in the storm.

The recall order came the same day that the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether to allow health officials to impose stringent measures against what they say are aggressive advertising by foreign milk companies which has many women believing infant formula is better than mother’s milk.

Joshua Ramos, deputy director of the Bureau of Food and Drugs, said up to 4.3 million units of the infant formulas Bonna, Bonakid, Bonamil, Promil, Promil Kid, Promil Gold and Progress Gold may have been contaminated in the storm. A unit is defined as being a can or a arton. However, Wyeth says only 2.5 million units were potentially affected. The bureau was working to clarify the discrepancy before deciding how many units to recall.

Wyeth said in a statement that the company identified rusty spots on the outer rims of some cans during a routine inspection at a warehouse in July 2006 following typhoon Milanyo.

It was not immediately clear when Wyeth alerted the government. The bureau conducted its own inspections in April and May this year, prior to issuing the recall.

“Tests conducted by Wyeth showed the milk powder inside the affected cans was not compromised and the integrity of the milk powder was maintained,” Wyeth said in the statement. “No sickness or injury had been reported to Wyeth from the affected products.”

About 2.5 million units of the seven different types of formula were stored on moist wooden pallets, and about 1.3 million cans were distributed to the market, said Nerissa Calimon, medical director at Wyeth. She said the company voluntarily recalled 279 cans that had the highest level of rust last July. The public was not notified about the recall.

“The current situation is a packaging issue confined to the exterior of containers,” she said in a statement. “The high quality of the milk powder was maintained.”

Calimon said 9.56 million units were produced during the affected period, but more than 7 million were not exposed to moisture. She said Wyeth will, however, cooperate with the full recall.

The milk in question was manufactured between May to July 2006, “but we are referring only to specific lots, not everything should be recalled,” Ramos added.

Ramos said Wyeth only reported the possible contamination to the bureau after word of it spread on the Internet. “It was only an afterthought when they declared it to us,” he said.

“They should have admitted to it and they should have recalled all their products publicly and made a report,” he added.

Padilla said it was the first time that a recall order has been issued in the Philippines for infant formula due to contamination that occurred in the country. Past pullouts were done after recall orders issued in the home countries of the foreign milk companies.

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