Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: The Justice Department is currently conducting a criminal investigation against Abbot company for the ongoing infant formula shortages in the United States, according to a Biden administration official and another individual familiar with the case.
While reporting the investigation, The Wall Street Journal quoted Scott Stoffel, an Abbot spokesperson, saying: “We are fully cooperating with the DOJ, and they have informed us about their investigation.”
A small group of congressional Democrats has pushed for government investigations into Abbott’s management of the infant formula product contamination, which finally led to a factual recall and the closure of an essential plant in Sturgis, Michigan, last February.
Before the recall, a whistleblower claimed Abbott staff had fabricated paperwork and concealed food safety violations from FDA inspectors. The DOJ and FDA declined to respond to inquiries about the probe.
About one-fifth of nation’s infant formula supply was made at the Sturgis factory
The shutdown resulted in severe shortages that stretched across the country and, months later, caused President Joe Biden a political crisis.
The DOJ launched its investigation a few weeks after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Abbott announced a plan to construct a new $536 million manufacturing plant in the state to produce metabolic and specialty formulas for medically vulnerable children and adults severely affected by the shortages.
Abbott’s Sturgis facility has had difficulty ramping up manufacturing of the specialized formulae, and it recently delayed the release of several metabolic formulas until April.
