Mum horrified to find baby formula tampered with

A mother has been horrified to learn her child's baby formula was tampered with, leading to an extensive police investigation.

Madeline Roque from Phoenix, Arizona bought the product from a local Walmart store and originally thought her daughter was being fussy.

However, when nine-month old Adeline started throwing up, she knew something was drastically wrong.

"I just thought she was going through the teething process, which she gets cranky," she said to KPNX.

"She was throwing up throughout the whole day, passing a lot of gas.

"Then when I poured the bottle in the sink ... I saw how it clumped up, and in my head, I'm like 'my daughter's stomach is just the same, or even worse'."

Roque says she believes the baby formula was replaced with flour, with the white colour being one of the key things that tipped her off - usually the fluid in the bottles would be a pale yellow.

Thankfully Adeline was to make a full recovery once it had passed through her system and she was taken quickly to the local hospital by her mother.

Police in the area are said to be investigating other cases of people buying expensive baby formula and replacing it with flour, only to return the containers to the store for a cash refund.

Walmart are also looking into the scam, however, a spokesperson said it was against the company's policy to return food products to the shelf.