Federal health officials on Friday urged parents to immediately stop using Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Infant Formula after three babies were hospitalized with botulism in a multistate outbreak tied to the product. The warning landed the same day Nara Organics recalled all lots and can sizes of the formula.
The babies, ages 2 to 5 months, were treated with BabyBIG after becoming ill in California, Pennsylvania and Washington. The product is sold nationwide through Target stores, Target.com and Nara.com, which puts the recall directly in front of parents who may not have seen the public health warning yet.
Nara Organics said in a statement posted on its website that parents should stop using all of its infant formula immediately, adding that it was heartbroken for the concern and stress the recall may cause families. That language matches the urgency of the CDC warning, and it reflects how quickly the case moved from an outbreak investigation to a nationwide product pull.
Still, the most important piece is unresolved: federal health officials said they were investigating whether the formula was the source of the outbreak, even as they linked the three illnesses to children who had consumed it. Testing of opened and unopened formula samples is underway, with results expected in the coming weeks, and that means the recall is being treated as a precaution while investigators work to prove or rule out the product.
For parents, the action today is simple. The formula is off the shelf, all lots and can sizes are covered, and officials are telling families not to use it under any circumstance. What remains to be answered is whether the tests confirm what the outbreak already points toward: that this formula was the source, and not merely part of the trail.
