Worried parents have bombarded the maker of Similac with phone calls and peppered Facebook and Twitter pages over fears about insects in the top-selling baby formula after millions of cans were recalled.
The company said Thursday it is unlikely any of the formula already sold is tainted, and doctors offered more reassurance: Even if babies drink bug-tainted formula, the chance for serious harm is slim.
“There’s no reason for parents to panic,” said Dr. Joseph Gigante, an associate professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. Symptoms might include a mild upset stomach, but he said that should last only a few days.
Still, parents such as Stephanie Roseman of Farmington Hills, Mich., are upset. Her 3- month-old son seemed like he had a stomachache this week after drinking formula from one of Abbott’s recalled lots. So Roseman is switching to a rival formula.
“He was definitely fussy, and he’s not a fussy kid at all,” said Roseman, 33. “I wish they were a little more careful screening what’s going into the formula.”
North Chicago, Ill.-based Abbott voluntarily recalled 5 million cans and plastic containers of Similac powdered formula as a precaution after small common beetles were found at its Sturgis, Mich., manufacturing plant, said company spokeswoman Kelly Morrison.
The bugs are a common warehouse beetle that were found near a production line last week. Abbott stopped production and tested containers of formula from that line. Morrison said “99.8 percent of product was not contaminated.”
