ROME, Nov. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Italian Health Ministry said on Friday that it would sue the Nestle CEO Peter Brabeck over his statement that the Swiss food giant sold contaminated baby milk in Italy with the knowledge of its health authorities.

    Italian Health Minister Francesco Storace said he had received an apology letter from Peter Brabeck, but the Nestle chief would have to answer to the courts for his "false" statement.

    "The head of a multinational can not be allowed to sully Italian institutions with impunity, " the minister said.

    Italian police seized about 30 million liters of Nestle baby milk after tests showed some of it had been tainted by the chemical substance isopropylthioxanthone (ITX) from printing ink on the packaging.

    But Brabeck claimed on Wednesday that his company had reached an agreement with European and Italian health authorities in July and had been authorized to continue selling the formula provided it changed the packaging.

    Nestle had recalled more than 2 million liters of contaminated milk from Italy, Spain, France and Portugal. But EU's Food Safety Agency said it did not represent an "immediate" health risk. Enditem