EXCLUSIVE: Remember The Baby Formula Panic? Feds Just Revealed What Was Happening

Parents, remember the baby formula shortage panic of 2022? I was driving from Boca Raton, Florida, all the way to Key West — five hours — checking every single store along the way. I was posting on Facebook, asking anyone and everyone to check their stores. I had people flying formula in from around the country just to make sure I could feed my baby. And I wasn’t alone.

Years later, we’re now learning what the government says was happening behind the scenes at one of the plants making that formula. And some of the details are enough to make any parent’s stomach turn.

Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay nearly $385 million to settle allegations tied to baby formula and nutritional products manufactured at its plants between 2018 and 2022, The Daily Wire has learned.

And we’re not talking about some minor paperwork violation here.

There were allegedly roof leaks. Lots of them.

SCOOP: Baby formula maker Abbott has agreed to pay over $384 million related to its contaminated infant formula. DOJ wants to send a message that America’s food supply is “nonnegotiable,” @realdailywire has learned.

“Abbott will pay a substantial sum to resolve serious…

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) September 14, 2026

According to the government’s complaint, leaks were so common inside the Sturgis, Michigan, plant that water would run and drip over equipment. Instead of permanently fixing what was causing them, prosecutors say Abbott used temporary fixes, including something called “roof leak umbrellas,” to divert the water away from areas where products were being processed.

All while, according to the complaint, company leadership understood that a wet environment increased the risk of microorganism contamination.

Then there were the spray dryers.

These are the massive pieces of equipment used to turn liquid formula into the powder parents scoop into their babies’ bottles. The government alleges Abbott continued running them even after cracks and pits had been documented inside, conditions prosecutors say also increased the risk of contamination, particularly when moisture was present.

But somehow, it gets worse.

The Justice Department alleges Abbott increased the number of batches that went through the dryers between cleaning cycles, allowing the company to pump out more product.

And then there’s perhaps the most stunning allegation of all: what Abbott allegedly chose not to test.

According to the complaint, Abbott intentionally avoided testing for bacterial growth because it did not want to get positive results showing contamination. The government also alleges that in some instances when testing did show microorganism contamination, Abbott failed to disclose those results while responding to FDA requests during inspections in 2019 and 2022.
Abbott has now agreed to pay $384,999,040 to resolve the allegations.

Roughly $348.7 million will go to the federal government to settle False Claims Act allegations, while another $36.3 million will go to states over claims involving Medicaid and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known to just about every parent as WIC.

And that taxpayer connection matters.

More than half of all infant formula purchased in the United States is paid for with USDA funds through WIC, according to the Justice Department. State Medicaid programs also pay for certain infant formulas.

The case was originally brought by three former Abbott employees, Scott Millard, Kristine Cooper, and Loren Cooper, under whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.

Their share of the federal settlement? $69 million.

The allegations also bring parents right back to the Abbott plant that became a household name for all the wrong reasons during the 2022 formula crisis.

Federal officials had already raised serious concerns about conditions at the Sturgis facility. FDA testing found Cronobacter sakazakii at the plant, a bacteria that can cause serious and even deadly infections in babies. Abbott eventually reached an agreement with the federal government outlining what the company had to do before it could restart production.

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