“Abbott actually did start remediating the plant, but it was so bad”, Califf said, adding that company is in the process of completing “hundreds” of steps under the agreement to reopen the plant safely.
“They’re still not ready to [reopen] but they will be in the next several weeks”, Califf said. He cautioned that if there’s a problem with any one of those steps it could result in additional delays.
Lawmakers pressed Calamari about years of documented problems at the Sturgis plant dating back to 2010, including a 34-page whistleblower report from last October that detailed widespread food safety concerns. The whistleblower also alleged company employees falsified documents and hid information from FDA inspectors.
Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) told Califf earlier in the day that, after reading the whistleblower report, “it feels like there’s just corruption from the top down at that plant”. Multiple lawmakers, including Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), said Abbott appears to have a...
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