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# Tennessee Secures $2.35 Million in Abbott Formula Settlement
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/state-news-tennessee-2026-09-19-a/
- Published: 2026-09-19T23:21:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-19T23:21:14.000Z
- Description: Tennessee will receive $2.35 million from a $384.9 million Abbott infant-formula settlement. The agreement resolves government claims over safety compliance and public-program billing without an admission of liability.
- Author: News Desk
- Tags: State News, Arizona, Michigan, Tennessee

Tennessee will receive $2,349,346.04 from a national settlement with Abbott Laboratories over allegations that the company submitted claims to publicly funded nutrition programs for infant formula and nutritional products made under deficient safety conditions.

Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced the state’s share Friday as part of a $384.9 million federal and multistate resolution. According to the [Tennessee attorney general’s office](https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/news/2026/9/18/pr26-36.html?ref=theamericanquorum.com), Abbott will pay about $348.7 million to the federal government and $36.3 million to 40 participating states for claims tied to Medicaid and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC.

The settlement resolves allegations rather than a trial verdict. State and federal officials alleged that between January 2018 and December 2022 Abbott failed to maintain equipment, control conditions that increased microorganism-contamination risk and, in some instances, disclose contamination test results during Food and Drug Administration inspections at facilities in Sturgis, Michigan, and Casa Grande, Arizona.

Abbott did not admit liability. The company said no unopened, distributed formula tested positive for the bacteria linked to the investigation and maintained that its products did not cause the infant illnesses or deaths that prompted scrutiny, according to [Reuters’ account](https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/abbott-pay-384-mln-over-contaminated-infant-formula-allegations-us-justice-dept-2026-09-14/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) of the federal settlement.

The Tennessee announcement traces the agreement to a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2022 in federal court in western Michigan. The United States and participating states later filed complaints under federal and state False Claims Acts. Tennessee’s Medicaid Fraud Control Division also served on the state negotiating team with counterparts from 10 other attorneys general offices.

For Tennessee residents, the practical point is that the $2.35 million recovery goes to the state through the government settlement; the announcement does not establish a direct-payment or claims program for individual families. The state release also does not assign Tennessee a separate recall action or allege that the manufacturing occurred inside Tennessee.

The underlying events had broad consequences. Abbott voluntarily closed its Sturgis plant during the 2022 investigation and recalled several powdered-formula products, worsening a nationwide shortage before the facility reopened. An [Associated Press review](https://apnews.com/article/23b355c26f6347a7e07565aba76d0e4f?ref=theamericanquorum.com) notes that government testing did not find the suspected bacterium in unopened formula obtained from consumers’ homes, a fact that is important to distinguish from the government’s manufacturing-condition and false-claims allegations.

The settlement therefore addresses public-program payments and alleged compliance failures, not a judicial finding that a particular Tennessee child was harmed by a product. It also closes a civil dispute while leaving food-safety oversight with federal regulators and formula manufacturers.

Tennessee officials have not yet specified how the recovered money will be allocated or when it will arrive. The two figures to watch are the state’s final net recovery after any required distributions and whether officials direct it back toward Medicaid, WIC administration, fraud enforcement or another authorized use.