The applicable standards are as follows (N.B. some contamination is 
allowed, because if handled correctly, these levels should be below 
those  which will produce clinical symptoms of illness.  I don't know 
if the research supports that or not.  But these safeguards are what 
keeps our 6,000 deaths from infant formula/year from being 600,000 or 6 
million.  So while not absolute safeguards, they still qualify as 
safeguards of a sort.  In other words, infant deaths are kept at a 
level the American public will accept.  Bear in mind that the deaths 
are also due to the inherent flaws in using artificial "infant formula" 
as a substitute for real [human] milk,  which accounts for most 
illnesses, and also to consumer mishandling.):

Methods in the Official Methods of Analysis of the AOAC or the FDA, 
Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) specified for infant formula 
currently in effect on the date of solicitation shall be used.  Upon 
microbiological analysis, the test results of powder infant formula 
shall meet the following values:
 
     Salmonella - Negative
     Listeria monocytogenes - Negative
     Coliforms - Not more than 10 per gram
     Fecal coliforms - Not more than 3 per gram
     Escherichia coli - Not more than 3 per gram
     Coagulase Positive Staphylococcus aureus - Less than 3 per gram
     Bacillus cereus - Not more than 50 per gram
     Aerobic Plate Count - Not more than 500 per gram

[ COMMERCIAL ITEM DESCRIPTION:  FORMULA, INFANT.  The U.S. Department 
of Agriculture (USDA) has authorized
   the use of this Commercial Item Description.]


And yes, the manufacturer gets to conduct its own analyses, so it is 
technically possible to cheat.  The probability of making up false 
reports I cannot speak to.

Arly Helm, MS, IBCLC
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