The medical multinational Abbott Laboratories is under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice due to the baby formula crisis that generated shortages of this basic product throughout the country in 2022, according to The Wall Street Journal and confirmed this Saturday by a company spokesperson told NBC News.
"The Department of Justice has informed us of their investigation and we are cooperating fully," said spokesman Scott Stoffel.
Abbott closed its infant formula plant in Sturgis, Michigan on February 17, 2022, after Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors detected bacteria after receiving reports of babies getting sick from consuming its products. products.
Inspectors found standing water, damaged drying equipment and flawed seams on formula cans, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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After the closure of this plant in Michigan, one of the main producers of baby food, the country suffered an unprecedented shortage.
Families and federal authorities mobilized for months to obtain formula;
some parents created homemade formulas, which posed a risk, according to experts.
To reinforce the supply, the Government allowed the entry of more foreign formula into the country, organizing planes to transport it.
Abbott signed an agreement with the government in May that laid out what it had to do before reopening its plant.
“The government alleges that the powdered infant formula products manufactured at the Sturgis facility were adulterated because they were manufactured under unsanitary conditions and in violation of current good manufacturing practice requirements,” the FDA said in a statement.
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The factory, which produces three of the country's most popular brands, Similac, Alimentum and EleCare, reopened in June 2022.
Federal officials could not establish a conclusive link between the contamination at the plant and the children's illnesses caused by a rare bacterium called Cronobacter (four of them fell ill and two died).
Abbott stated that the genetic sequencing of the bacteria from the sick babies did not match the strains detected in the plant.
Abbott said in an earlier statement to NBC News that they continue to improve their “manufacturing and quality processes to ensure” that their products “are free of Cronobacter Sakazakii” and “has already begun to execute corrective actions and improvements at the plant.”