Maryland Mom Goes To Walmart For Baby Formula, Makes Gross Discovery After Feeding Child

A Maryland mother fed her 11-month-old son a bottle made from what she believed was infant formula bought at Walmart, but the container was filled with flour.

Alivia Council told WMAR2News she purchased the formula at the Nottingham, Maryland, location. Her boyfriend opened it that evening to feed their son, Thomas, and found it half-empty. The baby drank some before the couple grew suspicious.

“I mixed it with water and it turned into dough and I was livid,” Council told the outlet.

The mother said she immediately feared bacterial contamination.

“It’s E. coli, salmonella, there’s so many bacteria that are inside of raw flour that have to get cooked off, and I just fed it to my child,” she told WMAR2News. Thomas had flushed cheeks and diarrhea for two to three days but avoided serious complications. (RELATED: Mother Says Baby Lived After Abortion Doctors Claimed Pregnancy Not Viable)

Council went back to the store demanding surveillance footage and contacted police, who said the case would be tough to prove, WMAR2News reported. She filed complaints with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Maryland Food Compliance. Investigators suspected an in-store swap by another shopper, not a reshelving error. Council disputed that, arguing a thief would just steal the whole container.

Maryland mom says baby formula bought at Walmart was replaced by flour https://t.co/H9rQ87jdCJ

— WSFA 12 News (@wsfa12news) March 5, 2026

Her TikTok warning to parents collected over 748,900 views, The Mary Sue reported. A Walmart employee at a separate location told Council the store should not have accepted a formula return. The retailer does not seem to have a public policy regarding the returns of items like baby formula, the outlet noted.

Walmart told WMAR2News it enforces a strict policy against reselling returned formula, offered the family an exchange, and reported the issue to the manufacturer and local health department.

This is not a new problem. Charlotte police investigated multiple formula-for-flour return schemes at Walmart in 2019, WCNC reported. A 9-month-old fell ill after her mother unknowingly fed her the tampered product. Walmart gave the same assurance then about its no-reshelve policy.

The FDA’s consumer guidance confirms raw flour can carry E. coli and Salmonella. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documented outbreaks tied to uncooked flour in 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2023.

“We try to do everything right,” Council told WMAR2News. “It was disappointing for that to happen.”