The problem claimed in the article was with manufacture, not with the product as a concept. You could definitely argue that the FDA needs a greater supervisory role for manufacture, but this wasn't an issue with the approval.
The article left that in doubt. They did not rule out the thickener.
FTA
> 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.
