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The Food and Drug Administration insists that its plans to quickly approve new products and ramp up safety inspections will ensure that an ample supply of safe baby formula remains on store shelves.
In February 2022, Abbott Laboratories recalled Similac, Alimentum and Elecare formula products in Michigan and several other states, after inspectors discovered probable Salmonella Newport and Cronobacter sakazakii bacterial contamination. As investigators dug further, they found out that Abbott ignored industry safety standards and best practices at this production facility for years.
“Safety and supply go hand-in-hand. We witnessed last year how a safety concern at one facility could be the catalyst for a nationwide shortage. That’s why we are looking to both strengthen and diversify the market, while also ensuring that manufacturers are producing infant formula under the safest conditions possible,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf declared in a press release. “Now, with this strategy, we are looking at how to advance long-term stability in this market and mitigate future shortages, while ensuring formula is safe,” he added.
Food Safety Issues
Lingering supply chain issues laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic have exposed the three major kinds of food safety issues in the United States.
Design Defect
Companies eagerly sell “healthy” food if this description increases sales. Some foods have the opposite design. Trans fat is a good example.
Companies routinely add trans fat to fast foods, snack foods, fried foods, and baked goods. These partially hydrogenated fats have a different chemical structure that’s easier to work with than other kinds of fats. Furthermore, trans fats make these foods taste better. Trans fat consumption is also incredibly unhealthy. This ingredient causes heart disease and kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. As a result, several nations, not including the United States, either closely regulate or ban trans fat in foods.
Manufacturing Defect
Some processed foods are perfectly safe on the drawing board. Then, companies take shortcuts during the manufacturing process which makes these goods unsafe. Food preservatives are a good example. Many processed foods have preservatives to prevent fast spoilage and increase shelf life. Other additives, like nitrites for color, make food look more appealing.
Failure to Supervise
Once a product reaches the factory floor employee and machinery cleanliness are key. Unsanitary conditions probably caused the massive 2015 Blue Bell Ice Cream listeria recall.
Legally, companies have a duty to ensure that their employees, and the machines they work with, are squeaky clean. Listeria and other bacteria grow so quickly and spread so aggressively that any letdown in this area is usually a breach of care. If that breach of care caused injury, an attorney might be able to obtain compensation in court.
This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
FDA’s Power
The Food and Drug Administration has the power to publicly call out companies if a design defect, manufacturing defect, or failure to supervise has caused the injury. But the FDA doesn’t have the power to get ahead of the problem and certainly doesn’t have the power to compensate victims.
Legal claims force companies to design their products and more closely control the manufacturing process.
Injury victims may be entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer, contact Napoli Shkolnik. We do not charge upfront legal fees and only recover a fee when we win your case.