More cases of botulism in infants have been linked to contaminated baby formula.
Federal health officials announced at least 51 babies have been hospitalized across 19 states, Fox Business reported.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said these infants consumed ByHeart formula.
The CDC believes infants as young as 2 weeks and up to 8 months old have been affected since Dec. 24, 2023. No deaths have been reported.
Those states reporting cases are Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Infant botulism usually affects less than 200 babies in the U.S. each year, per health studies. The disease can cause paralysis or death.
Botulism occurs when a toxin-producing bacterium grows in the large intestine. It may take weeks for symptoms to appear.
The FDA said ByHeart formula was removed from stores Nov. 26.
“All ByHeart infant formula products have been recalled, and these products should not be available for sale in stores or online. This includes all formula cans and single-serve ‘anywhere pack’ sticks,” the FDA said.
ByHeart addressed the issue on its website in November.
“Based on these results, we cannot rule out the risk that all ByHeart formula across all product lots may have been contaminated,” the company wrote.
“As soon as we learned from FDA of the infant botulism outbreak, we immediately partnered with IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group, a global leader in Food Safety testing, to test un-opened cans of ByHeart product, and conducted a nationwide recall,” it added.
“We continue to be focused on finding the root cause, through a rigorous audit of every step of our product development chain, from suppliers and raw ingredients, through to packaging and transportation. This includes testing more product samples,” it continued.
Customers lcan request refunds directly from the store where the formula was purchased, the company said.
In early November, IJR reported 13 infants were hospitalized in 10 states after consuming the formula.
