The Abbott Laboratories plant in Michigan, which was at the center of the nation’s baby formula crisis, has stopped production again.
Production of its EleCare specialty formula was stopped after severe storms in southwestern Michigan flooded areas of its Sturgis, Michigan plant.
This is the same plant that forced Abbott to issue a recall of some of its formulas in February due to contamination issues.
The closure of the Sturgis facility, the largest in the U.S. and source of leading brands like Similac, exacerbated the industry-wide baby formula shortage. For several months, parents and caregivers have been scrambling as shelves increasingly become more barren. Meanwhile, retailers were forced to put purchasing limits on the product to try and curtail stockpiling.
The company, which has notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the incident will likely delay production and distribution of the infant formula for a few weeks.
“Abbott has ample existing supply of EleCare and most of its specialty and metabolic formulas to meet needs for these products until new product is available,” according a statement.
“Once the plant is re-sanitized and production resumes, we will again begin EleCare production, followed by specialty and metabolic formulas. In parallel, we will work to restart Similac production at the plant as soon as possible,” the statement continued.
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