Bill Marler, food safety advocate and foodborne illness attorney since 1993, whose Seattle area law firm, Marler Clark’s work was recently profiled in the Netflix documentary “Poisoned,” The Dirty Truth about your Food, is calling on ByHeart to pay the medical bills and lost wages of the families of victims of the Botulism outbreak in the United

According to the ByHeart’s website, ByHeart Whole Nutrition Infant Formula was sold through their website ByHeart.com and through retail stores nationwide, including Amazon, Kroger, Walmart, Whole Foods, Target, SamsClub.com and others.

CDPH’s Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program Noted Case Increase, Launching National Investigation

What You Need to Know

The California Department of Public Health

Symptoms of infant botulism can take as long as several weeks to develop, so parents should remain vigilant if they used the recalled lots of infant formula.

Infant botulism is a notifiable disease. All suspected cases must be reported to the state public health department.

The Outbreak

As of November 8, 2025, 13 infants with

According to a ByHeart release, ByHeart was notified by the FDA on November 7, 2025 of an estimated 83 cases of infant botulism that were reported nationwide since August 2025. Of these, the FDA also noted that 13 infants received ByHeart formula at some point. The FDA has not identified a direct link between any

With 13 babies sick in 10 states we need to do more to protect infant formula.

What is Botulism?

Botulism is a rare, life-threatening paralytic illness caused by neurotoxins produced by an anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium, Clostridium botulinum.[1] Unlike Clostridium perfringens, which requires the ingestion of large numbers of viable cells

Epidemiologic data

The FDA and CDC, in collaboration with California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program (IBTPP), and state and local partners, are investigating a multistate outbreak of 13 infant botulism illnesses from 10 states: Arizona, California (2), Illinois (2), Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas (2), Washington.