The FDA Is Recalling These Liquid Multivitamins For Breastfed Babies

If your breastfed baby takes a supplement to stay healthy, you'll definitely want to double-check whether or not their products are still safe to use, given recent news that they might be contaminated. So, here's how to tell if your baby's liquid multivitamin supplements were recalled, because actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are working to pull a number of harmful products off store shelves. Basically, anything manufactured by PharmaTech in its Davie, Florida location is included in this recall, including two products that are marketed toward infants and toddlers in particular — under the brand "Leader."

A representative for the company told Romper he could not comment on the recall, but that "parents with concerns should contact their primary physician at this time."

The alarm set in when burkholderia cepacia (B. cepacia), a bacteria, was discovered in the PharmaTech's water system, according to the FDA. Seeing as this water has been used in producing all of its liquid medications, they're all now under recall. In testing PharmaTech's products, scientists found a strain of bacteria that they were able to link to a series of recent infections.

This is concerning because B. cepacia leads to respiratory infections, and people suffering from any type of respiratory-related illness are especially susceptible to additional infection. Regardless, no one should continue to use the affected products.

Unfortunately, though, the contaminated PharmaTech supplements are not so obviously labeled or easy to spot. This is due to the fact that PharmaTech products are all marketed under different brand names — three, to be exact. Again, the main brand that moms will want to look out for is the "Leader" label, specifically Leader's Liquid Multivitamin Supplement for Infants and Toddlers as well as Liquid Vitamin D Supplement for Breastfed Infants, as shown in the two photos below:

But throwing away personal supplements won't cover all the bases. PharmaTech products are not only sold to consumers, but to pharmacies and health care facilities, too. According to the FDA, these sites have been made aware of the recall and will cease distributing them effective immediately.

The FDA also stresses that PharmaTech's other liquid products, marketed as "Major Pharmaceuticals" and "Rugby Labratories" have been recalled too, so if you have any of their various drops and supplements in your medicine cabinets, you'll want to toss them as soon as possible.

And if your little one has suffered a respiratory infection while using any of PharmaTech's products, the FDA encourages that you report your experience here, or give them a call at 1-800-332-1088. Keeping tabs on the impact of these harmful products might help reign in the potentially infectious spread to others, so any information you have relating to your PharmaTech experience will certainly go a long way.