Washington Family Sues Nara Organics and Target After Their Infant Was Hospitalized with Botulism from Recalled Organic Formula

The Botulism attorneys at Marler Clark filed a lawsuit, naming Target as the retailer of the recalled Nara whole-milk formula and challenging Nara's claim that the product was "FDA-approved."

SEATTLE, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The parents of a Lacey, Washington infant who was hospitalized with infant botulism have filed a product-liability lawsuit against Nara Organics, Inc. and Target Corporation, alleging that the recalled Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Infant Formula fed to their son was contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. The suit was filed today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma Division, by food-safety law firm Marler Clark on behalf of the boy's parents, Jin Nam and Jisun Lee, individually and as guardians of their son, identified in the complaint by his initials, I.N. Complaint

According to the complaint, I.N. was born on March 1, 2026, a healthy infant fed the Nara formula as his sole source of nutrition. His parents ordered six cans of the formula directly from Nara's website in mid-May and purchased two more cans days later from the Target store in Lacey. On or about May 24, 2026, the baby began to refuse feedings and grew increasingly lethargic, with poor muscle tone and poor head control — hallmark early signs of infant botulism.

The complaint alleges that when his parents first sought care at Kaiser Permanente on June 1, his symptoms were attributed to reflux and he was sent home. As his weight kept dropping over repeated visits, providers finally directed the family to the emergency department at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, where he was admitted on June 5 and diagnosed that night with infant botulism. He received BabyBIG, the antitoxin used to treat the disease, on June 6 and remained hospitalized until June 16, when he was discharged still requiring a feeding tube.

Laboratory testing of an opened can of the Nara formula fed to I.N. confirmed the presence of C. botulinum, directly linking the product he consumed to the organism that paralyzed him. Weeks later, he still cannot hold his head up unassisted and has not returned to normal feeding.

"Parents reached for the formula that promised the strictest safety standards in the world, and two of them bought it off a Target shelf — and it left their baby paralyzed and on a feeding tube," said Bill Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark and the attorney for the family. "The FDA warned this whole industry — manufacturers and retailers alike — that whole milk powder can carry botulism. The same milk and the same milk powder that sickened dozens of ByHeart babies turned up in this formula. Nobody gets to say they didn't see it coming."

I.N. is the Washington case in a four-infant, three-state outbreak that the FDA and CDC have tied to the Nara formula, with illnesses in California, Pennsylvania, and Washington and onset dates in April and May 2026. Nara recalled its Whole Milk Organic Powdered Infant Formula on June 13, 2026. On June 26, the FDA reported that the recalled lots were made with milk supplied by Organic West Milk and spray-dried into whole milk powder by Dairy Farmers of America — the same two suppliers implicated in the 2025 ByHeart infant botulism outbreak, which sickened 48 infants across 17 states.

The lawsuit names Target as a product seller of the recalled formula under the Washington Product Liability Act. It alleges that Target, a sophisticated national retailer of infant formula, knew or should have known of the risk that whole milk powder can harbor C. botulinum — a hazard the FDA had flagged directly to retailers in its March 2023 "Call to Action" letter, reinforced through its 2025 "Operation Stork Speed" testing initiative, and made unmistakable by the widely reported ByHeart outbreak — yet continued to stock and sell the product.

The complaint also takes aim at Nara's marketing. Nara promoted its product as the first and only USDA-certified organic whole-milk infant formula and, according to the complaint, told consumers it was "FDA-approved." The FDA does not approve infant formula. The suit alleges those representations gave parents a false assurance of government safety vetting that never occurred.

If you believe your infant was impacted by this outbreak, contact Marler Clark directly at 1-800-884-9840 for a free case evaluation.

About Marler Clark

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation's leading law firm representing victims of foodborne illness. Founded by Bill Marler in the aftermath of the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak, the firm has represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products caused injury and death. Marler Clark has represented families in every major foodborne-illness outbreak of the past three decades and has recovered more than $900 million for its clients. The firm has litigated cases involving E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, botulism, and other pathogens across the country.

SOURCE Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm