Santa Clara, CA: A class action lawsuit alleging negligence has been filed against Mead Johnson & Co. LLC, makers of infant formula Enfamil, alleging the formula was contaminated with life-threatening bacteria which has resulted in hospitalization for at least one infant.
The suit was filed by Paulina Rodriguez who alleges she found insects in cans of Enfamil and believes they carried a harmful bacteria called Cronobacter sakazakii, also known as Enterobacter sakazakii, which made her newborn (AR) ill.
“As a result of defendant’s negligent manufacturing process, defendant’s product was contaminated by disease-carrying insects and was unfit for human consumption, causing plaintiff and class members financial injury and causing the hospitalization of AR, plaintiff’s infant daughter,” the proposed class action states.
According to the suit, Rodriguez fed her infant daughter Enfamil in December. However, only after she had fed her child with the formula did she discover it had been contaminated by an insect. Rodriguez alleges her baby quickly became gravely ill and was hospitalized twice. On December 21, she took her baby to a local clinic, where the infant registered a fever of 103 and began to suffer from continuous vomiting and diarrhea, according to the complaint. On December 23, Rodriguez took her infant daughter to the emergency room at Long Island Jewish Hospital, where AR required medication in the waiting room before being formally admitted with symptoms that included fever, urinary tract infection and poor feeding, the complaint states.
During the following week, AR’s health began to improve and Rodriguez brought her baby home. However, on January 1, Rodriguez opened a new can of Enfamil to feed her child, and found another insect in that newly opened can.
“By this point, Ms. Rodriguez was detecting a pattern,” the proposed class action states. “And so she called Mead Johnson and urged it to investigate whether the entire shipment sent to her local Key Foods had been contaminated. She also asked about the lab results on the contaminated Enfamil she returned in November but was told that the laboratory testing department was closed.”
According to the suit, Enfamil is among the top-selling powdered infant formulas available, and Mead Johnson’s advertising promotes it as safe and healthy for infants. Therefore, Rodriguez and other similarly situated, reasonably believed they were purchasing a quality product that was safe to feed to their children. They did not expect that it “carried a risk of adverse health consequences,” the complaint goes on, noting that the company failed to disclose that its manufacturing process “does not take safety issues seriously” and the product is therefore liable to be contaminated.
According to Rodriguez’s complaint, John J. Framer III, a researcher who first named and described Enterobacter sakazakii, had observed that a 2001 study reported an outbreak of the bacteria at a Tennessee hospital. The infants were fed Portagen, which was determined to be the cause of the outbreak. Portagen is a commercial powdered formula produced by Mead Johnson.
“This outbreak marked the beginning of the U. S. Food and Drug Administration’s interest in contamination of powdered infant formula products and especially contamination with Enterobacter sakazakii,” Framer said, according to the complaint.
Rodriguez, alleges violations of New York General Business Law, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, strict products liability, negligence and fraudulent misrepresentation.
Rodriguez is represented by C.K. Lee and Anne Seelig of Lee Litigation Group PLLC. The case is Rodriguez v. Mead Johnson & Co. LLC, case number 1:17-cv-02020, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
