Abbott Laboratories is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Almost a year after the company closed its baby-formula plantation in Michigan, it is again under criminal investigation.
Assumptions circulating on the internet speculate that it is related to an issue that occurred last year; however, neither Abbott nor the DOJ have confirmed what the cause is.
Abbott Laboratories' Baby Formula Investigation
Abbott is again under close investigation. People who know about the situation but were not named again said that the Department of Justice is checking out the company's plant in Sturgis, Michigan.
On February 17, 2022, Abbott voluntarily stopped producing infant formula at their Sturgis plantation.
The enterprise was forced to close its doors as a result of claims that some newborns grew ill after drinking baby formula manufactured by the company.
According to CNBC, after drinking powdered formula produced at Abbott's Michigan facility, a rare bacteria caused the illness of four infants, two of whom passed away.
Alimentum, EleCare, and Similac are three of the most well-known brands of infant formula in the United States, and the facility in Michigan produces these products.
This shutdown is infamous for contributing to the nationwide shortage of baby formula.
Investigators from the federal government were unable to arrive at a conclusion on the origin or origins of the bacteria known as Cronobacter sakazakii, which is the said cause of the illness that those four babies acquired.
However, Abbott stated that the absence of a genetic match between ill children and the formula verified the results of its own internal testing, which demonstrates that the company has not discovered the bacterium in any of the products that it has sold.
According to Politico, a few legislators pushed for government investigations into Abbott's management of the formula product contamination, which resulted in a huge recall and the plantation's closure.
The DOJ's latest probe follows the company's announcement of its intentions to develop a new $536 million manufacturing plant to make specialized and metabolic formulas for medically sensitive infants and adults.
Abbott's Baby Formula Recall
The suspension of Abbott's infant formula plantation began on October 19, 2021, when a former employee provided a 34-page paper to the Food and Drug Administration claiming improper cleaning practices.
The whistleblower disclosed that the corporation had lied in its documents in order to conceal problems at the factory from the FDA.
According to Forbes, after these documents were made public, Abbott issued a recall for all of its products that were manufactured at its factory in Sturgis, Michigan, on February 17, 2022.
This recall included the company's key infant formula lines Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare.
This comes as a result of the four complaints received from customers regarding the two incidences of bacterial illnesses that were observed in newborns as a result of consuming the powdered formula.
The FDA revealed that after ingesting the formula, two newborns were ill with a bacterial infection caused by Cronobacter sakazakii and eventually passed away as a result of their condition.
After this news broke out and the shut down of the plant in Michigan, shortage for baby formula has started creeping across the country.
As the infant formula scarcity throughout the country worsens, several stores, including CVS, Target, and Walgreens, have begun restricting customers' ability to buy the product in May 2022.
According to Abbott, routine testing conducted by Abbott revealed that none of their consumer-facing products had either Cronobacter sakazakii or Salmonella. The Michigan plant continued its production on Aug. 26, 2022.
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