Abbott Labs and the Food and Drug Administration plan to authorize the release of a limited quantity of baby formula to ease demand. The move comes as empty shelves are increasingly pushing parents to panic over where their infant’s next meal may come from.
Stocks have run low for months after multiple cases of bacterial contamination led to multiple infant hospitalizations and at least two fatalities. The bacteria discovered were Cronobacter sakazakii and one case of Salmonella Newport. As of two months ago, nearly 30% of infant formula was out of stock across the country – a number that has certainly only worsened as the crisis has drug on.
The products authorized for release include Calcilo XD, Cyclinex-1 and 2, ProViMin, and Similac PM 60/40. While standard product testing has been conducted on the lots making their way to store shelves, time concerns have dictated that the products have forgone any additional testing in the wake of the contamination found at the Sturgis, Michigan facility responsible for manufacturing them. According to Reuters, the FDA’s release has been specified for those needing “urgent, life-sustaining supplies.”
Parents of infants who use the formula have dealt with the strains of the crisis for at least eight months now, as initial reports of sickness due to contamination were received by Abbott Labs and the FDA as far back as September of last year. The agency then spent the next four months “investigating” the issue before taking any action. After finally dispatching inspectors to the Michigan Abbott Labs facility, a recall was finally ordered an additional three weeks later.
As investigators and parents lambasted the agency over a perceived lack of urgency in its response to the issue, the FDA limited the amount of information it made available to a scared public. Those frustrations only grew after a recent report indicated that samples of bacteria taken from the Abbott Labs facility targeted by the agency have so far failed to match samples of the bacteria that infected at least two of the infants hospitalized by the contamination.
