Following a sudden plant-shutdown of giant baby formula producer Abbott Nutrition in February, the entire nation is being plagued by a formula shortage, which comes on the wake of allegations that the FDA dragged its feet on a whistleblower report from late last year.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) told Fox News she has proof that the Biden administration is supplying undocumented immigrants at the southern border with the baby formula they need, a move she says contributes to Biden's "America last agenda," and Georgia's attorney general has warned consumers of price gouging and other scams during such a desperate time.
“They are sending pallets, pallets of baby formula to the border,” Cammack said on Fox News earlier this week. “Meanwhile, in our own district at home, we cannot find baby formula.”
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL)
| Facebook/Kat Cammack
Cammack told Fox News that she traveled to the border to see for herself if there is a baby formula stockpile allegedly earmarked for illegal migrants. According to the news outlet, she held a photo of empty store shelves as she claimed her trip confirmed there are a number of warehouses filled with baby formula as Americans face a shortage of a product that nourishes the nation’s infants. The congresswoman made a public announcement of the alleged border patrol report on social media last week, according to the Washington Examiner.
“It is not the childrens’ fault at all,” she told the Washington Examiner. “But what is infuriating to me is that this is another example of the ‘America last’ agenda that the Biden administration continues to perpetuate.”
According to The Observer, there have been a myriad of factors that have contributed to the formula shortage, but a key issue has been the allegations that the Food and Drug Administration has been dragging its feet. The slow reaction last fall to whistleblower reports of tainted formula is seen as a key issue in the existing shortfall.
“Why did the FDA take several months to respond?” Tinglong Dai, a professor of Johns Hopkins University, told The Observer. “The problem is the culture at the agency. It does not respond to situations fast enough. The system is broken.”
Fortune reported that the FDA didn’t respond until January, initiating an investigation into a formula facility in Sturgis, Michigan and in February it warned consumers about issues with some powdered formula products, sparking a recall.
The Washington Post reported that it will still be weeks until formula production and distribution return to normal levels, and former FDA associate commissioner Peter Pitts said the formula issue is proof of a “serious problem across the FDA portfolio, where there are a limited number of manufacturers.”
Pitts told the newspaper that the production of infant formula is a detailed, expensive effort that lends itself to consolidation, and when issues occur, it can impact the supply.
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