Home Bargains product recall: Item deemed "unsafe" for children and pregnant people urgently withdrawn

Home Bargains have recalled a protein powder product due to unsafe caffeine levels. Here's everything you need to know...

Caffeine is known to be one of the foods to avoid while breastfeeding, and whether you can drink coffee while pregnant is a question often asked by expectant mothers. While the short answer is yes, you can have caffeine in your diet, it's important to limit your intake, which is why products extremely high in caffeine such as the recalled Home Bargains protein powder can be dangerous, when not labelled correctly.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued a recall notice for the product on Thursday 6 July, and customers have been urged not to consume the product if they have bought it. We've taken a look at the product affected to bring you everything you need to know about the Home Bargains recall.

Home Bargains product recall: Which products have been recalled?

Home Bargains has recalled Sci-Mx Nutrition Ultra Muscle Strawberry Flavour because the product has been deemed unsafe to consume. The affected products are the 1.5kg bags with a best before date of March 2025, and the batch code - which can be found next to the best-before date on the packaging - is W110429.

Testing of the recalled product found that it contained over 5000 mg (5 g) of caffeine per serving, which makes it unsafe - particularly for children, pregnant and breastfeeding people and those with a mental health condition.

The risk statement reads: "Too much caffeine can produce anxiety, sleeplessness, agitation, palpitations, diarrhoea and restlessness.

"Individuals with a mental health condition caffeine can experience worsened psychosis and result in the need for higher amounts of medication. Caffeine can reduce how well your antipsychotic medications work.

"Children, or other people sensitive to caffeine, should only consume caffeine in moderation. Pregnant and breast-feeding women are advised not to have more than 200mg of caffeine over the course of a day."

If consumers were to follow the advice on the packaging of the recalled protein powder, the recommended two helpings per day would give them a daily dose of over 10,000 mg (10g) of caffeine. According to Mayo Clinic, 400mg is a safe dosage for most healthy adults.

What to do if you have bought recalled protein powder

Anyone who has bought the recalled protein powder has been urged not to consume it. Instead, contact Sci-Mx customer careline at customerservices@sci-mx.co.uk and they will arrange a full refund.

FSA Head of Incidents, Tina Potter, said: "If you have purchased this product, do not take the risk of consuming it. High levels of caffeine can cause anxiety, sleeplessness, agitation, palpitations, diarrhoea and restlessness, and individuals with a mental health condition can experience worsened psychosis.

"In this case, the exceptionally high levels of caffeine could mean the consequences are even more severe and perhaps even fatal."

The news follows several other supermarket product withdrawals, after Asda recalled a number of baby sleeping bags over safety fears, Lidl issued a recall on lentil chips over undeclared ingredients and seven million Baby Shark bath toys were recalled over injury risks.