July 14, 2022<\/p>\n
Media contact: National Consumers League \u2013 Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832<\/p>\n
Washington, DC\u2014 The National Consumers League (NCL) applauds the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for taking strong steps to assure consumers that infant formula coming from overseas has been properly inspected and is free from contaminants or adulterants and therefore safe for infants.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumers should have confidence that the infant formula that is being imported to the U.S. \u2026 involved a thorough review of the information provided by the companies, including details about the product\u2019s nutritional adequacy and safety, microbiological testing results, labeling information, and importantly, details about the manufacturing facility\u2019s food safety production practices and inspection history,\u201d according to a press statement posted on FDA.gov.<\/p>\n
Over the past few months NCL, the nation\u2019s oldest consumer advocacy organization, has issued several statements on the infant formula shortage. The shortage was caused primarily by the unconscionable and unsanitary practices at Abbott\u2019s Michigan infant formula facility when it failed to follow safety protocols, falsified documents to the FDA, and then shipped contaminated formula resulting in babies contracting foodborne illnesses and as many as nine infant deaths, according to FDA documents. Abbott\u2019s reckless actions \u2013 coupled with the FDA\u2019s slow response to the outbreak \u2013 finally lead to both parties issuing a recall of the faulty formula and ultimately triggered a nationwide shortage of powdered infant formula.<\/p>\n
As FDA renews its focus on infant formula, NCL applauds the agency\u2019s determined outreach to keep parents informed about how to read food labels from products made abroad. These labels use metric measurements that consumers in the United States may not easily comprehend. Most importantly, FDA has ramped up inspections of the products to ensure good and safe manufacturing processes.<\/p>\n
Below are several statements on the infant formula crisis issued by NCL in the past few months, one of which includes our June 16 testimony before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/nclnet.org\/ncl-applauds-fda-response-formula-shortage\/<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/nclnet.org\/senate-testimony-consolidation-harms-consumers\/<\/a><\/p>\n