Who remembers that we still have a baby formula supply problem in this country? These problems began almost a year ago, when Abbott Nutrition began a voluntary recall of some of the most popular brands of baby formula on the shelves.
As our readers will remember, by last spring two infants had died of bacterial infection (Cronobacter sakazakii) and two more had become sick. The problem was that none of the formula showed evidence of bacteria, but the bacteria had been found in Abbott’s Sturgis, Michigan plant, in a non-production area. The plant was shut down, which then triggered a cascade effect that neither the FDA or anyone else on the federal level anticipated: a nationwide baby formula shortage. The most well-known brands were off the shelves, and anything else was getting snapped up by desperate parents.
Caught completely flat-footed, the Biden administration (and Joe Biden himself) was forced to admit that they hadn’t taken the situation seriously, and then cobbled together an “emergency airlift” of formula from Europe that was a literal drop in the bucket, and then had to pass a waiver on the tariffs on European-made baby formula through Congress that lasted through the end of 2022. The FDA finally allowed Abbott to open up their plant again, and that was the end of it, right?
Nope…
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