In 2022, two babies died, and a half a dozen were left severely injured due to drinking tainted infant formula manufactured by Abbott Nutrition. This does not include the number of babies made sick from the formula.
After more than three years of investigation, in May 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) criminal prosecution of Abbott Nutrition, the infant formula manufacturer at the center of the 2022 infant formula safety and supply crisis, has been dropped. (1)
According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, there a was “a pile of evidence” to support these criminal charges of selling tainted food. Per the Radical Mom’s Union, “Prosecutors interviewed by WSJ, believe that Abbott “knowingly” failed to follow manufacturing standards to protect against the risk of contamination and alleged that Abbott had a “culture of concealment” and “withheld information from FDA related to the presence of micro-organisms” in the factory. But under guidance from the Trump administration, the DOJ was instructed to find other means to curtail the, uh, criminal impulses of profit driven companies.”(2)
Now, Abbott Nutrition remains under a consent decree requiring strict monitoring, rapid recall procedures, and potential daily fines for safety violations. Meanwhile, roughly two months before the DOJ’s announcement was made public, President Trump purchased around $500,000 worth of stock shares in Abbott Laboratories. (3) Additionally, the company has contributed roughly $500,000 to Trump’s inaugural fund.
A July 9th press release from U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, confirms that he is opening an inquiry into the DOJ for dropping the case. (4) In the Senator’s letter to the U.S. Acting Attorney General Blanche, Schiff wrote:
“A DOJ spokesperson apparently confirmed the criminal probe was closed, saying ‘criminal charges would have been heavy handed.’ That is a concerning admission: 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. 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.”
His letter to Blanche highlights Trump DOJ’s own filings that say “Abbott repeatedly lied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and state agencies” in a “years-long and widespread failure to manufacture compliant powder infant formula” involving the dangerous Cronobacter bacteria.
References:
- https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-doj-closes-criminal-probe-into-abbott-over-baby-formula-plant-wsj-reports-2026-06-29/
- https://radicalmomsunion.substack.com/p/i-am-here-to-enrage-you?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf5d9340-2861-4170-8083-5a60d11c1dfe_1456x819.webp&open=false
- https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-abbott-laboratories?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
- https://www.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/news-who-killed-the-abbott-case-schiff-opens-inquiry-into-reports-that-department-of-justice-closed-criminal-case-against-abbott-laboratories-recommended-by-trumps-own-political-appointees/
