The Food and Drug Administration has announced it has concluded its investigation into contaminated powdered infant formula that was produced by Abbott Nutrition.
The FDA said the case is now closed and that no additional cases of illness in babies were discovered.
Four children became ill after they were given formula made at Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis, Michigan, plant that was found to be contaminated with Cronobacter bacteria. Two babies died.
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The agency said it is no longer investigating the incident and will be working on supply chain and food safety issues that were created by the investigation and the resulting plant shutdown.
Abbott Nutrition said it plans to restart production and that new products will be available in six to eight weeks once manufacturing resumes, ABC News reports.
“Subject to FDA approval, we could restart the site within two weeks,” the company said, according to ABC News. “We would begin production of EleCare, Alimentum and metabolic formulas first and then begin production of Similac and other formulas.”
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“We deeply regret the situation and since the recall, we’ve been working to increase supply at our other FDA-registered facilities, including bringing in Similac from our site in Cootehill, Ireland, by air and producing more liquid Similac and Alimentum,” the company also said. “We also began releasing metabolic formulas that were on hold earlier this month at FDA’s request to those who need these unique formulas.”
The FDA warned parents to not give their children Similac, Alimentum and EleCare powdered formula products. The canisters were recalled if they met all three of the following conditions:
- First two digits of a code printed on the container are 22 through 37,
- The same code contains “K8,” “SH” or “Z2,″
- Use-by-date of 4-1-2022 (APR 2022) or later.
For the complete list of products that were recalled, visit the FDA’s website.
Other varieties were not affected by the recall.
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