According to Rayne Guest, a recent baby formula shortage in the U.S. could have been avoided. Guest is a recognized expert and stanch advocate for effective disinfection. Guest picks on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)‘s guidelines, where proper disinfection protocols are presented as essential to minimize the spread of infectious diseases. Guest is the founder and CEO of ARROWCLEAN, formerly known as R-Water.
In February 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shut down a major Abbott Nutrition baby formula plant because of suspected links to bacterial infections including the microorganisms Cronobacter sakazakii and Salmonella. This shutdown sent new parents scrambling to find products essential to the health of their little ones and revealed another gap in our perilous supply chain.
C. sakazakii is an opportunistic Gram-negative, rod-shaped, pathogenic bacterium that can live in very dry places. This occurs because C. sakazakii utilizes a number of genes to survive desiccation. A risk factor to the general population is particularly with low-birth-weight preterm neonatal and older infants.
Guest explains that the CDC recently confirmed that the Cronobacter strains found at the Abbot plant did not match those that caused infections in four infants, suggesting that the infections stemmed from home or elsewhere.
The CDC’s website has a clear warning stating that “powdered infant formula can be contaminated in homes because Cronobacter lives on surfaces and can get into the formula by placing a lid or scoop on a contaminated surface such as a kitchen counter or sink.”
In the absence of the CDC not publicly announcing this risk to new parents, Guest is urgently sharing the following:
Contamination can begin at home
Cronobacter is a dangerous germ that lives on surfaces and can infect a can of powdered formula after it is opened. Spread can occur when a scoop or lid is placed on a contaminated surface.
Spray and wipe is a myth
All disinfectants have a minimum contact time for achieving their claimed efficacy, and for most of them, it is 10 minutes – a time period that is unrealistic, especially when attending to the cries of a newborn. By not heeding the stated contact time, proper disinfection is not achieved, and harmful bacteria is not eradicated from surfaces.
Disinfection is often not completed in one simple step. Many disinfectants require surfaces like kitchen counters where formula scoops, bottles, nipples, caps, rings, and valves are placed need to be pre-cleaned and rinsed thoroughly with water after a 10-minute contact time to remove the harmful residues left behind.
Food Manufacturers
Being required to only use sanitizers in food processing factories is negligent. There are healthcare grade disinfectants available that comply with FDA code as being safe for food contact surfaces without a rinse. Healthcare grade disinfectants are required to efficiently eliminate the toughest strains of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. To prevent gratuitous risk and subsequent liability, the FDA should direct the food processing factories to use them.
