FDA "inadvertently archived" complaint about Abbott infant formula plant, audit says

The Food and Drug Administration "inadvertently archived" a whistleblower's complaint regarding conditions at an Abbott Nutrition plant that produced powdered baby formula recalled in 2022 due to bacteria that killed two infants, an audit shows.

An early 2021 email raised red flags about the plant in Sturgis, Michigan, that became the focal point of a nationwide shortage of infant formula when it was temporarily shuttered the following year. 

An FDA employee "inadvertently archived" the email, which resurfaced when a reporter requested it in June 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General said Thursday in a report.