Abbott Laboratories is facing investigations from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission over its infant formula operation, marking the latest in a series of inquiries into the monthslong shutdown of a Michigan formula plant last year that kick-started a nationwide formula shortage.

SEC's Enforcement Division sent Abbott a subpoena in December asking for information about its powder infant formula business and related public disclosures, the company revealed in a securities filing.

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The infant formula manufacturer also said last month it had received a civil investigative demand from the FTC in connection to the agency's investigation of companies that bid for infant formula supply contracts with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, a federal assistance program for low-income women and young children.

The Department of Justice has also reportedly opened a criminal investigation into the formula shortage, which Abbott said it is cooperating with.

The inquiry comes a year after Abbott recalled several of its powdered infant formulas and shut down production at its Sturgis plant. It followed an inspection from the Food and Drug Administration that identified evidence of cronobacter sakazakii bacteria at the facility after receiving reports of sick infants who had consumed the formula.

The FDA has since said it has been unable to confirm whether bacterial contamination at the Michigan plant caused the deaths of two children and sickened several others.

The recall halted operations at the formula plant for months, exacerbating a growing national shortage of infant formula that sent parents scrambling to find products to feed their infants and spurred the Biden administration to source infant formula from overseas to address the shortage.

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Abbott has since resumed production at the Sturgis plant and said it has addressed the FDA's contamination concerns.

"Making infant formula is a responsibility we take very seriously, and parents can feel confident in the quality and safety of Similac and other Abbott formulas," said Robert Ford, chairman and CEO at Abbott, in a statement last year after reopening the Michigan plant. "We are committed to re-earning the trust parents and healthcare providers have placed in us for decades.”