Shares in Mead Johnson spiked on Tuesday after the company released a statement explaining its Enfamil baby formula is safe for use by consumers. Despite no official statement from the FDA or the CDC, the company’s confirmation is a step in a positive direction, after a 10-day-old in Missouri died after consuming the formula.

In a press release, Mead Johnson announced it did not detect the presence of cronobacter, a bacteria responsible for the death of a 10-year-old in Missouri who consumed Enfamil. Samples tested in the study were from the same batch being investigated by the FDA and the CDC.

“The U.S. FDA and the U.S. Center for Disease Control are seeking to determine the origin of the cronobacter involved in the Missouri case and are expected to be testing a variety of possible environmental sources,” read the release. Neither agency has released statements regarding the latest test.

The company was quick to highlight the success of its clinical trials. Not so fast, said Citi’s analysts. In a note released Tuesday, Citi’s David Driscoll noted a second case had surfaced in Illinois. The note cited an ABC report on a 1-month-old Porsche Rapacz who suffered a powerful bacterial infection and had been fed Enfamil from lot number ZP1K7G, the same one involved in the Missouri case.

The analyst has a neutral rating on the stock and a price target of $72, based on 23x multiple of their 2013 EPS estimate of $3.40. With about 60% exposure to emerging markets and high margins, Mead Johnson has outperformed the average infant formula category growth in an aggregate of its top 11 markets over the past 3 years, and therefore is gaining share. “This makes for a strong argument that [Mead Johnson] will be one of the few major winners in global infant formula,” said the analyst.

Packaged goods companies have had a good 2011. While Kraft is up almost 20% thus far, while Tyson Foods gained almost 22%. ConAgra Foods jumped 18%. Mead Johnson had a good year, but fell off a small cliff as of late, given news of the infant death in Missouri.

By 12:27 PM in New York, Mead Johnson was up 6.3% or $4.08 to $69.37. The stock is up about 11.7% this year.

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