In a tragic development, Walmart “is pulling a batch of baby formula out of aisles nationwide. It’s in response to the death of 10-day-old Avery Cornett of Lebanon, Missouri,” according to this report.
The young child died last week, as the result of being infected with Enterobacter sakazakii. According to the CDC, Enterobacter sakazakii is “is a rare cause of invasive infection with high death rates in neonates.”
According to the report cited above:
Walmart decided to hold the 12.5-ounce cans after hearing about what happened in Lebanon. It only applies to cans with lot number ZP1K7G. Concerned customers can return the formula with that lot number to Walmart for a refund. You can also call 1-800-BABY-123 with questions. That Walmart spokesperson says the voluntary recall affects more than 3,000 stores in 49 states. A Walmart spokesperson says the company made the decision to pull the product out of an “abundance of caution.”
A representative of Mead Johnson,the manufacturer of the product, had this to say:
“We are highly confident in the safety and quality of our products — and the rigorous testing we put them through. Our testing of ingredients and all finished powdered infant formula products includes tests for Cronobacter. If an ingredient or product batch were found to contain Cronobacter, it would be rejected and not distributed. The batch of the product used by the child’s family tested negative for Cronobacter when it was produced and packaged, and that has been reconfirmed from our batch records following this news