Back in early July, I reported that despite the Biden administration’s reverse “Berlin Airlift” baby formula drop, experts indicated it would be a couple of months before stock rates improve.
Well, months have certainly passed. As the midterm election looms large on the horizon, I thought it might be a good idea to check the status of the formula supply.
And, as I thought, the answer is not comforting.
Biden administration officials are still grappling with baby formula supply challenges across the country, eight months after a key formula plant shuttered and sparked widespread shortages.Stores remain unevenly stocked as the amount of formula on the market overall has rebounded. The officials in charge of the response blame hoarding, supply chain bottlenecks and manufacturers making fewer varieties.“I know that there’s obviously still a problem,” said Stacy Dean, who oversees the Agriculture Department’s federal nutrition program for low-income moms and babies that pays for more than half of the formula consumed in the U.S.The lingering crisis is an extra headwind for Democrats ahead of the midterms, as it hits low-income families already struggling with record inflation and higher food prices. And it’s providing Republicans with ammunition to attack the Biden administration ahead of the midterms.
Perhaps if the votes go red, there may be solutions to the Food and Drug Administration formula log-jam.
Lawmakers like Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., have been calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to address why the agency has not acted swiftly enough in response to the shortages. They have introduced bills that would accept additional formula manufactures to market.Part of the proposed legislation would allow more imports of formula.
Abbot, whose Michigan plant was shut down beginning the supply chain collapse on formula, had another recall of formula in October.
In a new recall following a separate one which dogged them for the better part of this year, Abbott, which has been the largest infant formula manufacturer in the U.S., is now voluntarily recalling bottles of their largest, most popular kind of formula, Similac, from their manufacturing facility in Columbus, Ohio….The new recall in Ohio is because the bottle caps on some of their 2-ounce ready-to-feed liquid products made at the Columbus plant are faulty, and may not have sealed completely, the company said in a recall notice.
The company is now planning to build a $500 million infant formula facility.
“We’re currently in the final stages of determining the site location and will work with regulators and other experts to ensure this facility is state-of-the-art and sets a new standard for infant formula production,” Robert Ford, the company’s chairman and CEO told investors in an earnings call on Wednesday.The decision to invest in a new plant comes in response to an analysis that found “this country would benefit from more manufacturing capacity and redundancy,” Ford said.
The country would also benefit from less regulatory inanity and political foolishness.
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