A Milwaukee family says their 3-month-old became constipated and was hospitalized after drinking from a can bought as infant formula that the family later identified as flour. The family is awaiting federal lab results, while the circumstances behind the can remain under investigation.
As FOX6 News Milwaukee reported, Tene Fowlkes said her partner went late at night to a nearby gas station for formula because other options were unavailable. Fowlkes said the bottle looked sluggish, off and foggy when the infant drank from it, and she later identified the contents as flour rather than formula.
Fowlkes said the baby developed constipation after ingesting the substance. The family took the child to a hospital for treatment for suspected infant poisoning and later returned the container to the gas station where it had been purchased.
How the Tainted Can Got There Remains Unclear
The cause of the apparent substitution has not been established. According to FOX6, the gas station owner reported the incident to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC, and the state is investigating. The owner told the outlet he could not comment further while the investigation is ongoing.
FOX6 reported that Fowlkes's family sent a sample of the suspect formula to the Food and Drug Administration and is awaiting test results. Fowlkes said the family had not checked whether the container's seal was intact before using it, and she wants other parents to check. “Formula is expensive, and times are hard,” she said, according to the outlet.
What Wisconsin and Federal Law Say About Tampering
If investigators determine the formula was deliberately altered, Wisconsin law treats that kind of consumer product tampering as a serious crime. Under Wisconsin Statute § 941.327, a person commits a Class I felony by tampering with a household or consumer product in a way that taints it or materially falsifies its labeling, with intent to kill, injure or otherwise endanger someone's health or safety, or to cause significant injury or damage to a business. The offense can escalate to a Class H, F, or C felony if the tampering creates a high probability of, or causes, great bodily harm or death.
The federal statute cited here, the Federal Anti-Tampering Act, is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1365. It allows penalties of up to 10 years for general tampering without injury, up to 20 years for serious injury, and life imprisonment if someone dies. Whether the statute applies in Milwaukee would depend on the facts and any legal findings; agency involvement alone would not determine that.
Retail Rules Around Returned and WIC-Purchased Formula
How a tampered can ends up back on a shelf is a question retail safety protocols are built to prevent. Reporting from WFMNews2 on major retail chains found that returned infant formula is generally barred from being placed back on store shelves regardless of appearance, though tampered cans have occasionally slipped past store inspections during fraud scheme investigations.
Separately, Wisconsin does not require merchants to follow a standard return or refund policy, according to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, leaving individual stores to set their own rules on returns and exchanges as long as products are not misrepresented at the time of sale. For formula purchased through WIC specifically, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services' WIC Vendor Manual prohibits authorized retailers from issuing cash or credit refunds, permitting only identical exchanges for defective or expired products.
A Pattern Seen Before, in Wisconsin and Beyond
This is not the first time flour has turned up where formula should be. Hoodline previously reported on a Maryland mom's flour-filled formula find involving an 11-month-old who became ill after drinking from a tampered can bought in a store.
Reports of formula-can substitution describe a different alleged scheme from theft rings: people replace formula with flour or sugar, then return the altered containers for cash refunds. Global News has documented reports of this kind of formula swapping dating back to at least 2017. In one case it covered, a Tucson, Arizona, woman was charged with child endangerment and fraudulent schemes in May 2017 after allegedly swapping Gerber soy formula with flour and returning the containers to local stores; an infant became ill after consuming the mixture.
Theft for resale is a separate reported model. WPLG Local 10 News reported that a September operation dubbed Operation Formula One uncovered a $1 million illicit baby formula ring in Florida, where organizers bought stolen formula from retail boosters to resell for profit.
Federal Guidance for Checking Formula Before Feeding
The FDA issued updated guidance in July urging infant formula manufacturers and distributors to exercise heightened vigilance over ingredient integrity, packaging safety, and supply chain controls. The agency's existing safety guidelines also discuss cleaning the outside of an unopened container and its lid.
Fowlkes is now passing along that same warning to other parents. She advised people to check that the seal is on a formula container before using it, and to return any container that is not sealed, even if the baby is upset in the meantime.
