Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) issued a statement about the Nara Organic Formula outbreak and recall for botulism. That outbreak has sickened at least three infants in the states of California, Pennsylvania, and Washington state. All three infants were hospitalized and treated with BabyBIG®, the FDA-approved treatment for this infection developed by the California Department of Health. The infants ranged in age from 86 days to 153 days when they got sick.
This product was sold at Target stores nationwide, and was also sold on the Target web site and Nara’s website between July 2025 and June 2026. All of the Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Powdered Infant Formula has been recalled. Guardians and parents should not feed infants this formula.
DeLauro said, “In just seven months, we have experienced two outbreaks of infant botulism tied to powdered infant formula. First, a ByHeart outbreak which sickened 48 sick babies across 19 states, and now Nara Organics with babies in three different states – all of them between two and five months old – now fighting for their lives. Something we previously had not thought was likely, or even possible, now has now has caused two outbreaks with two separate companies within the same year.
“This is not an isolated incident – it is a concerning pattern that begs the question; are we doing enough to ensure the safety of infant formula in this country? Before ByHeart and Nara Organics, in 2022, there was Abbott’s facility in Sturgis, Michigan that shutdown after a cronobacter sakazakii outbreak, triggering a nationwide shortage that left families scrambling for formula and babies hospitalized and in some cases, dead.
“The food we give our babies must meet the highest standard of safety. Right now it does not, and the gaps in the system are clear. It is time Congress take up my bipartisan Infant Formula Safety Modernization Act. Multiple crises year after year show the current system is not working, and we must be doing more. No family should have to wonder whether the formula in the can is safe, and no family should have to rush their baby to the hospital because the systems we put in place to protect them failed.
“Pass the Infant Formula Safety Modernization Act now.”
This act is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Consumer Reports, Prolacta, Consumer Federation of America (CFA), Environmental Working Group (EWG), Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), STOP Foodborne Illness (STOP), and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL).
