> Turns out hat manufacturer didn't actually ensure that there were no live bacteria in the final product, people started marking the substance as suitable for

> Turns out hat manufacturer didn't actually ensure that there were no live bacteria in the final product, people started marking the substance as suitable for premature infants, and babies have died from the worst possible bacterial infections imaginable as a result. That's a reckless and misleading summary, to put it politely. For starters, here is something the article says: Did the cold processing method and the failures in sanitation cause NEC? [...] Nobody’s sure. The FDA’s current theory is that the problem is the xanthan-gum thickeners themselves, because of the way they interact with an immature gut. ---- Yes, the article does spend some time up front on anecdotes for emotional response, but overall I felt it was quite well-written, trying to capture the nuances on different facets of the story -- quite unlike the above (aggravatingly shitty) "TL;DR" which presents a spurious simplification. Reality is NOT THAT SIMPLE; deal with it. For anyone who actually wants to understand, I recommend reading the full article.