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Tests of ByHeart infant formula tied to a botulism outbreak that has sickened dozens of babies showed that all of the company’s products may have been contaminated. Laboratory tests of 36 samples of formula from three different lots showed that five samples contained the type of bacteria that can lead to the rare and potentially deadly illness, the company said Monday on its website. Based on these results, we cannot rule out the risk that all ByHeart formula across all product lots may have been contaminated, the company wrote. At least 31 babies in 15 states who consumed ByHeart formula have been sickened in the outbreak that began in August, according to federal and state health officials. In addition, other infants who drank ByHeart formula were treated for botulism in earlier months, as far back as November 2024, although they are not counted in the outbreak, officials said. Clostridium botulinum type A, the type of bacteria detected, can be unevenly distributed in powdered formula. Not all babies who ingest it will become ill, though all infants under age 1 are at risk, medical experts said. ByHeart recalled all of its formula nationwide on Nov. 11. However, some products have remained on store shelves despite the recall, according to state officials and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Parents and caregivers should stop feeding the formula to babies immediately and monitor the children for symptoms, which can take up to 30 days to appear. Infant botulism occurs when babies ingest spores that germinate in their intestine and produce a toxin. Symptoms include constipation, difficulty sucking or feeding, drooping eyelids, flat facial expression, and weakness in the arms, legs, and head. The illness is a medical emergency and requires immediate treatment. At least 107 babies nationwide have been treated for botulism with an IV medication known as BabyBIG since Aug. 1, health officials said. In a typical year, less than 200 infants are treated for the illness. To report an illness tied to the outbreak, contact an FDA consumer complaint coordinator or fill out an online MedWatch form. Consumers who bought ByHeart on the company’s website on or after Aug. 1 can receive a full refund, an expansion of its previous policy, the company said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Jonel Aleccia, AP health writer
Category:
E-Commerce
If everything feels expensive this year, youre not alone. The high cost of living is on many Americans minds heading into the tail end of the year a period defined by ceaseless shopping, whether its for the Thanksgiving menu or a last minute gift for under the tree. Americans need to buy stuff (perhaps not so much stuff), but theyre also feeling the pinch of persistent inflation, chaotic tariffs and a frozen job market in 2025. How those forces will play out this holiday shopping season remains to be seen. According to a recent survey from consulting firm Deloitte, more people will be shopping this Black Friday through Cyber Monday, but they plan to spend less. Consumers said they plan to spend an average of $622 during the stretched out shopping holiday, down 4% from last year the first decline in five years. Unsurprisingly, shoppers who planned to cut their spending pointed to higher living costs and financial constraints in the decision. Some generational differences emerged. Gen X shoppers and boomers reported plans to reduce their spending during the shopping holiday, but Gen Z and millennial shoppers said they would stay the course and keep their spending levels the same this year. With the explosion of online shopping, lining up at the mall before sunrise for doorbuster sales might seem like a relic of the past, but 72% of Gen Z shoppers actually said they plan to shop in person this year. While most shoppers are showing restraint this season, the spending power of Gen Z is growingthey are responsible for about $20 of every $100 holiday dollar spent, compared to just $4 five years ago, Deloitte Retail Strategy Leader Brian McCarthy said. And we expect they are headed back to the stores on Black Friday to take part in the excitement of the day. People from both higher and lower-income households said they planned to cut back on spending this year, but those in the range between $100,000 and $200,000 actually reported plans to spend 5% more this year. The National Retail Federation estimates that a record 186.9 million people plan to shop between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday (the Monday following Black Friday) this year. That projection is up by 3 million shoppers compared to 2024. During that period, Black Friday is expected to reign supreme among deal-seekers, drawing an estimated 130.4 million people to shop the day after Thanksgiving. Saturday and Sunday arent full-blown shopping holidays of their own, but Cyber Monday a relatively recent invention will likely continue to gain ground, luring around half as many shoppers as Black Friday itself. Pushing back on Black Friday To draw attention to the cost of living crisis, a coalition of organizations is calling for shoppers to sit out this Black Friday. A grassroots movement known as the Mass Blackout, is urging Americans to boycott online and in-store shopping, including digital purchases, for one week, starting on Tuesday, November 25. While the Mass Blackout website calls out the Trump administrations coziness with corporations, its not explicitly a Democratic effort. Big business is funding authoritarian candidates while walking back public commitments to civil rights, labor protections, diversity, and democracy, the website states. This isn’t about left vs. right. This is about people vs. power. While the coalition wants Americans to spend less this holiday season, it still encourages participants to give their money to small businesses and local shops. Another major boycott is looking to hit the biggest names in retail where it hurts this holiday season. The We Aint Buying It movement, tied to progressive groups like Indivisible and the No Kings protests, is similarly calling for a shopping blackout over Thanksgiving weekend, specifically targeting Amazon, Target and Home Depot over their deference to the Trump administration and their reversal of DEI policies. Well send a clear message: until they cease collaborating with this administrations harmful policies, our dollars will go elsewhere, the campaigns website states.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sales at U.S. retailers and restaurants increased modestly in September as resilient consumers moderated their spending after splurging over the summer. Sales rose 0.2% in September from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, in a report delayed more than a month because of the government shutdown. Sales jumped 0.6% in July and August and 1% in June. Numerous reports on inflation, employment, spending, and growth remain delayed and the government wont likely be caught up until late December. The retail sales figures, which aren’t adjusted for inflation, suggest that Americans pulled back on spending in September as many households struggled with high prices for groceries, rent, and many imported goods hit by tariffs. The retail sales report covers about one-third of consumer spending, with the rest going to services such as travel, haircuts, and entertainment. Still, higher spending should lift the economys growth to a solid 3% annual rate in the July-September quarter, economists forecast, after a sluggish 1.6% expansion in the first half of the year. Much of the spending, however, was driven by rising prices at gas stations and grocery stores. Still, sales rose 0.7% in September at restaurants and bars, a healthy gain in discretionary spending. Sales at clothing, electronics, and sporting goods stores fell. Consumer spending could slow in the final three months of the year, economists warned. The government shutdown, weak hiring, and elevated inflation will likely cause more Americans to cut back. The moribund labor market and ongoing drag on real incomes from tariff-induced price increases suggest that this slowdown is likely to be maintained, Oliver Allen, an economist at Panthenon Macroeconomics, a consulting firm, said. Also on Tuesday, payroll processor ADP released its weekly measure of hiring, which found that companies cut an average of 13,500 jobs a week in the four weeks ending Nov. 8. The report is a sign hiring may have slowed since September, when the government said a solid 119,000 jobs were added. The disparity found in economic data shows how the economy remains in an uncertain state despite the solid growth in the third quarter. Hiring has generally been weak and the unemployment rate has ticked higher, which could drag down consumer spending and the broader economy if it worsens. Unemployment rose to 4.4% in September, the highest in nearly four years, from 4.3%, according to the delayed monthly jobs report released last week. Higher-income Americans are driving much of the gains, according to data from Bank of America and reports from retailers such as Walmart, as lower-income shoppers seek bargains and are more likely to spend more on necessities. Still, some retailers issued positive reports Tuesday, including electronics chair Best Buy and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Best Buy lifted its sales and profit forecasts for the year. Tuesdays report comes before the crucial winter holiday season kicks off this weekend, when retailers earn as much as a fifth of their revenues. The National Retail Federation and other forecasters expect modest sales gains this year, compared with last years holiday, with the NRF projecting that sales will top $1 trillion for the first time. Separate figures from the Labor Department suggest that inflation remains elevated but isn’t accelerating, which could make it more likely that a closely-divided Federal Reserve cuts rates next month. Wholesale prices rose 0.3% in September from August, the Labor Department said Tuesday, and 2.7% compared with a year ago. The monthly gain in the producer price index was pushed higher by a sharp increase in gasoline costs. The yearly figure was unchanged from the previous month. Core prices, which exclude the volatile food and energy prices, rose just 0.1% in September and 2.6% from a year earlier. Those figures are less than expected and suggest inflation pressures are cooling, economists said. The retail sales figures land as many economic data are coming in mixed. Wage growth has slowed this year and is just modestly above inflation, a trend that is likely driving Americans concerns around affordability. Wages, on average, rose 3.8% in September from a year ago, the government said last week. That is only modestly above Septembers annual inflation rate of 3%. But for many Americans, particularly those earning lower incomes or for older workers, wages are rising more slowly and are clearly trailing inflation. The Bank of America Institute estimates that for the poorest one-third of households, pay grew just 1% in October from a year earlier, while the highest one-third saw their wages rise 3.7%. The gap between higher- and lower-income households matches an August figure as the widest in nearly a decade, the bank said. Bank of America uses anonymous data from its customers to calculate the figures. And a separate report from JPMorganChase Institute showed that incomes for a typical household have retreated to levels last seen in the early 2010s, after the harsh 2008-2009 recession. Households are going into the end of the year with weak income growth and bank balances that remain flat, after adjusting for inflation, the report said. Christopher Rugaber, AP economics writer AP Retail Writer Anne DInnocenzio contributed to this report.
Category:
E-Commerce
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