Baby Formula Shortage Takes A New Twist

Abbott is the company that was shutdown by the FDA, after some babies became sick and two died from bacterial infections traced back to baby formula. The strange thing is that the offending bacteria -- wasn't found at the Abbott plant.

As parents across the U.S. are scrambling to find baby formula because of supply disruptions, the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday it would allow some formula products from the shuttered Abbott facility in Michigan to be released on a "case-by-case" basis.

In February, the FDA warned parents not to use certain popular powdered infant formulas manufactured at Abbott's Sturgis plant after receiving four reports of infants who were hospitalized with bacterial infections after consuming formula from the facility. Two of the infants died.

Abbott subsequently issued a recall of all potentially affected products manufactured at the facility and the FDA later shut down the plant after federal safety inspectors found Abbott failed to maintain sanitary conditions and procedures at the facility.

Last month, however, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NBC News none of the bacterial strains taken at the Abbott plant matched those collected from the infants, and the agencies haven't offered an explanation for how the contamination occurred.

For its part, Abbott says its formula “is not likely the source of infection,” though the FDA says its investigation continues.

When it comes to food products the FDA usually works very quickly. The FDA usually locates the source of a food born illness relatively quickly. Because of the manufacturing process, and the tracking that's required for baby formula and other foods, finding the cause is rather routine.

All of this seems fishy to me, because the bacteria that was causing illness, was not found at the Abbott plant. It's also strange because it would be unlikely for bacteria to be in sealed dry baby formula containers. These containers are heated to above 165ºF for 15 + minutes, to make sure that there is no bacteria in the formula.

This of course begs the question, where did the bacteria come from if it wasn't in the baby formula. It also begs the question, why would they allow distribution on a case by case basis if the FDA still suspected the baby food. The only other question is, if the FDA knows that the source of the bacteria wasn't the baby formula, why keep the plant shutdown?

Considering all of the other incidents to happen lately involving the food supply, the questions just keep coming. Why is all of this happening right now? How can we have 20 some-odd food processing plants burn down in (1) year? These are things that run 24-7 and have managed to keep running for years -- without fire incidents. The probability that this many strange things related to the food supply would happen within such a short period of time is HIGHLY unlikely.

Something isn't right...

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