I opened up a can of infant formula and it smells like fish?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sara
  • Start date Start date
S

sara

Guest
What the heck?
Yeah, I'm not going to use it. . .

Has anyone else had this happen? I mean it REALLY smells fishy? Too weird.
rainwrit - Yes, actually, that's why I wondered where the DHA & ARA came from. . .because if it DID, in fact, come from fish, then that would be a logical explanation for the smell.

I just got the Gentle formula of the same brand. . .that is the only difference from what I usually use.
 
Let us know which kind of formula you use. I use Enfamil Genlease Lipil and it has never smelled fishy. I have also used regular Enfamil Lipil (I switched to Gentlease because of my daughter's GAS haha, and her fussiness associated with it). I wouldn't use anything that smells fishy. It should smell like..... formula. Like powdered milk smells, but a little stronger.
 
The DHA in the formula comes from algae, not fish. So, it should not have any fishy smell. The fishy aftertaste after taking fish oil or a fish oil capsule is because the fish oil is rancid. It, too, should not have any smell or after taste.
I have no idea why the formula smells the way it does. I don't use formula but even if it were past it's expiry date, you wouldn't expect a "fishy" smell. Can you call the customer service line of the manufacture and tell them about the smell? They may shed some light as to what the fishy smell actually is.
 
Anybody who's ever belched after taking an "Enfamil Expecta" can attest to the fishiness...
 
I only use formula on occasion but I have never had that happen

but if I were you I would call the company and have them send you a new can for free!!
 
If this isn't a new brand then I would toss it. But if you've never tried this brand before it may be perhaps it was fortified with DHA? DHA supplements can smell "fishy" sometimes. If this is a new brand you've never tried before you could call the company and see.
 
Is this some sort of leap to your other question about the source of DHA and ARA being fish oil?

Fish is a good source of DHA for children and adults, but the DHA in infant formula comes from algae, not fish. The ARA comes from a fungus. The DHA that we get from fish doesn't really come natively from the fish, but from the algae they're around, so formula manufactures skipped past fish oil and went straight to the algae (well, they used fish oil in some tests, but that was over 10 years ago).
 
Back
Top