In just seven months, we have had two outbreaks of infant botulism tied to powdered formula made with whole milk powder. First ByHeart in November 2025 — 48 sick babies in 17 states. Then Nara Organics in June 2026 — three more hospitalized in California, Pennsylvania, and Washington. With ByHeart, DNA testing matched the exact strain of bacteria in the milk
Epidemiologic data
As of June 13, 2026, 3 infants with confirmed or suspected infant botulism have been reported from 3 states: California (1), Pennsylvania (1), and Washington (1). Laboratory confirmation for some cases is ongoing. Illnesses started on dates ranging from April through May 2026. All 3 infants were hospitalized and treated with BabyBIG. No
FDA, CDC, and public health officials in California, Pennsylvania, and Washington are investigating; food safety attorney Bill Marler calls it the second formula-linked infant botulism outbreak in seven months and renews his demand that the FDA and the infant formula industry do more.
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the
Whole Milk Again!
Nara Organics Powdered Infant Formula was distributed nationally across Target retail stores, Target.com, and Nara.com between July 2025 and June 2026. Nara Infant Formula is not distributed outside of the USA.
The FDA and CDC, in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program (IBTPP),
Clover Hill Dairy of Mechanicsville, Maryland is voluntarily recalling all Soft Ricotta/Requeson Cheese because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, or others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such
Total Nutrition Inc. of Deer Park, NY is voluntarily expanding its recall of TNVitamins and Doctor’s Pride Ultra Potent Complete Green Superfood Moringa Capsules due to the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. This expansion follows an ongoing supply chain investigation that identified additional lot numbers linked to the same raw material lot that prompted the original recall. Salmonella is
A father named Chris George spent the better part of a year trying to answer a question that should not have been hard to answer: that grew and processed the lettuce that nearly killed his son?
Colton George, now ten, was nine years old when he ate romaine contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 in the fall of
On Thursday, June 11, 2026, the FDA quietly posted to its website the document those of us investigating the ByHeart infant-botulism outbreak have waited months to see: the complete Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) for Blendhouse Allerton, LLC — the Iowa plant that produced ByHeart’s infant-formula base powder.
Credit where it is due: Bloomberg’s Anna Edney
Why the food industry should embrace whole genome sequencing (WGS) — even when it’s inconvenient
I few weeks ago I was supposed to give a talk about the pros and cons of WGS and the food industry. I never made it to the talk because my day job got in the way.
When I started suing
