Queensland Health provided this advice in late December 2009.

Please click here to view detailed information for medical practitioners.

BonSoy is a soy milk product distributed nationally in Australia. Tests have shown the product exceeds the safe upper limits for iodine intake in adults (30ml per day) and in children (5ml per day) and has been linked to clinical thyrotoxicosis and, less commonly, hypothyroidism.

The Food Standards Australia and New Zealand have recalled the BonSoy soy milk product and has advised the general public not to consume the product and to dispose of it either down a drain or in a garbage bin.

Patients (particularly pregnant women) who report they have drunk the milk are advised to see their GP or obstetrician for a thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) measurement. As iodine crosses the placenta it may cause foetal and neonatal hypothyroidism which can cause developmental problems in the newborn.

Doctors should be alert to seek information about BonSoy soy milk consumption by any persons presenting or who have presented in the past months with thyroid conditions.

Further information and a fact sheet about iodine is available on the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand website:

www.foodstandards.gov.au

Queensland Health disseminated this public health alert to all vaccine service providers in Queensland on 24 December 2009.