Washington - U.S. President Joe Biden met on Thursday with infant formula manufacturers and retailers including Target, Walmart and Nestle's Gerber, as frenzied parents into online groups to swap and sell to each other to keep their babies fed amidst a nationwide baby formula shortage.
The Biden administration urged the retailers to do everything possible to get families access amid a nationwide shortage.
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) will announce new steps in the coming days regarding importing certain infant formula products from abroad, the White House said, and Biden has asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to probe reports of predatory conduct such as price gouging.
Formula shortages because of a factory being taken offline have been compounded by supply chain snags and historic inflation, leaving about 40% of baby formula products out of stock nationwide, according to data firm Datasembly.
The problems began last year as the COVID-19 pandemic led to disruptions in labor, transportation and raw materials — economy-wide issues that didn’t spare the formula industry. Inventory was further squeezed by parents stockpiling during COVID-19 lockdowns.
In February, Abbott Nutrition recalled several major brands of powdered formula and shut down its Sturgis, Michigan, factory when federal officials began investigating four babies who suffered bacterial infections after consuming formula from the facility.
The recall wiped out many brands covered by WIC. The WIC program aims to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care as stated in the USDA website.
About half of infant formula nationwide is purchased by participants using WIC benefits, according to the White House.
Some parents are also using social media to bridge supply gaps. Many have started Facebook groups to source in infant formula wherever there is a acute shortage.
Families depend on formula. Less than half of babies born in the United States were exclusively breastfed through their first three months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2020 Breastfeeding Report Card showed.
Biden later said on Twitter, "I'm announcing new actions and working with the private sector to get infant formula into stores as quickly as possible without compromising safety."
Abbott said it could restart production at Sturgis within two weeks of FDA approval, adding it is prioritizing production at its Columbus, Ohio, facility and air-shipping formula from its Ireland plant.
Shortages of basic goods have been a problem since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Access to medical supplies, computer chips, household appliances, cars and other goods has been hurt by closed factories and outbreaks of the virus, as well as storms and other climate-related events.
-AP/Reuters