(WXYZ) — The Abbot Nutrition Plant in Sturgis has reached an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration to restart production after being closed for nearly three months.
Since February, the baby formula giant has been shut down following a recall of three brands of formula that had potential bacterial infections including salmonella.
The plant now says they have the FDA has given them the green light to continue formula production.
Once production resumes, Abbott says it will take at least 8 weeks to begin shipping new products to stores. Once they start shipping out formula, it will take a few months for the stock to completely bounce back.
Ailisa Theis of metro Detroit knew motherhood would be hard, but she never anticipated it would be this hard to find baby food. She breastfeeds her child but she says that's not enough.
"He's a growing boy so you're going through so many bottles a day and with me back to work, I just got to back to work last week, he relies more on formula than anything else," she said.
So the return of the Abbot Nutrition Plant is good news for many parents.
"I feel like we should be ok but it's the unknown that's scary," Theis said.
The FDA says it is relaxing restrictions on formula imports.
"We're doing everything we can 24 by 7 to work on this," Commissioner for the FDA Dr. Robert Califf said.
In the meantime, pediatric experts say if you are running low on formula, mix it with small amounts of pasteurized whole milk or even soy milk.
"If you're just a little bit short, you can fill that gap using regular milk from the grocery store, and it is safe to do that," Pediatrician at Birmingham Pediatrics Dr. Molly O'shea said.
