FDA obliterates formula maker’s defense of contamination linked to baby deaths

Enlarge / The Abbott manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Michigan, on May 13, 2022. (credit: Getty | Jeff Kowalsky)

Formula maker Abbott continues to firmly deny that its infant formulas sickened four babies, killing two. The denial is despite the same dangerous bacteria that sickened the infants—Cronobacter sakazakii—being found at the company's formula factory in Sturgis, Michigan, which the Food and Drug Administration alleges was producing formula "under insanitary conditions." And at least one container of Abbott's formula tested positive for the same Cronobacter sakazakii strain found infecting one of the infants.

Still, Abbott argues that the link hasn't been confirmed, and its formula isn't to blame. In a lengthy Twitter thread on May 13, the company made the blunt assertion: "The formula from this plant did not cause these infant illnesses."

But that is a brazen and misleading claim, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In a press briefing Monday evening, agency officials thoroughly dismantled Abbott's defense.