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July 9, 2026 / 3:05 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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Washington — California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff is launching a congressional inquiry into why the Justice Department shuttered a long-running criminal investigation into Cronobacter bacterial contamination at an Abbott Laboratories plant that made baby formula.In a July 8 letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche reviewed by CBS News, Schiff said he is seeking answers about why senior DOJ officials did not follow prosecutors' advice to pursue felony charges against the company and several of its executives."Under your management, DOJ does not consider a case involving deadly risks to medically sensitive infants, after a recommendation of a felony charge, to be worthy of criminal prosecution," Schiff wrote. "If prosecuting cases involving the risk of injuries or death to premature infants are not a priority enforcement matter, I have questions about what priorities the DOJ considers worthy of pursuing," he added. A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed receiving the letter from Schiff's office.In 2022, Abbott Laboratories recalled several of its popular powdered formula brands, including Similac, after consumers complained about infant illness related to products from Abbott Nutrition, in Sturgis, Michigan. The FDA in March said five infants had to be hospitalized due to reported bacterial infections which it said "may have contributed to death in two patients."In a statement, the company told CBS News that "no unopened, distributed Abbott infant formulas have ever tested positive for Cronobacter sakazakii" and said the Food and Drug Administration also separately confirmed in March 2022 that "the unopened product from homes of the infants under investigation at the time of the 2022 recall tested negative for Cronobacter."
