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Mom claims expired formula she bought made her baby sick

Stores are allowed to sell expired baby formula. Many parents around the country believe it has made their children sick. One parent who has concerns is a member of Congress who is working on a bill to make major changes.

Monica Grigorescu's 8-month-old son Phillip was sick and inconsolable for three days. The new mom felt hopeless and scared.

"My purpose is to protect him," Grigorescu said.  "You try your best, but you give him expired formula and you just sit there watching your baby cry."

Grigorescu ordered baby formula from Amazon. She said 30 minutes after a late night feeding, Phillip started vomiting.  The next morning she realized the formula was three months past it's use-by date.

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Grigorescu believes the expired formula made her baby sick, but she wasn't able to confirm it. Other parents have also had concerns.

Congresswoamn Grace Meng learned about the issue when he two sons were young.

The Food and Drug Administration has safety standards in place for baby formula. Meng wrote a bill that takes those standards a step further. It would give a special classification to formula that would make it illegal for stores and manufacturers to set and distribute it after the use-by date.

"Most of the time people have no clue stores in America are allowed to sell expired formula," Meng added.

Parents can find the use-by date on the bottom of formula packages. The FDA requires it to be printed on baby formula to make sure the formula does not lose nutrients. It's the only food product that has to comply.

"It really should be the responsibility of the store to sell a product that is safe for our babies and safe for American families," Meng said.

If the bill Meng is proposing becomes law, companies that sell expired baby formula could be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars and executives could face jail time.

Amazon issued Grigorescu a refund for the formula. The company sent WPXI a statement that reads, "customer safety is our highest priority and when appropriate, we remove a product and reach out to sellers, manufacturers and government agencies."

Amazon did not reveal if any action was taken in response to this incident.

WPXI searched Facebook and found Grigorescu isn't alone.  Dozens of parents posted with pictures about buying formula past it's use-by date.

Popular baby formula company Enfamil did send WPXI a statement. It states, "while certainly not ideal, it is very unlikely that feeding an infant out-of-date formula will result in any illness."

Meng's legislation will need to go before the House Energy and Commerce committee for debate.

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