Joe tells of White House formula crisis missteps
President Biden admitted Wednesday after a meeting with baby formula makers that the federal government did not anticipate that the safety-related shutdown of a major plant could spark crippling shortages.
Major formula manufacturers told Biden at a White House roundtable that they knew widespread shortages were likely after an Abbott Nutrition plant in Michigan was shut down in February over suspected bacterial contamination.
But Biden conceded the White House did not understand that the plant shutdown order had the potential to lead to empty shelves in supermarkets and drug stores nationwide.
“They did but we didn’t,” Biden said when pressed to explain why the White House did not foresee the problem.
“Once we learned the extent of it, and how broad it was, it kicked everything into gear,” he added.
Biden hosted a roundtable at the White House with major formula manufacturers ByHeart, Bubs Australia, Reckitt, Perrigo Co. and Gerber. The biggest formula maker, Abbott Nutrition, did not attend the meeting for reasons that remain unclear.
Industry executives say the constraints began last year as the COVID-19 pandemic led to disruptions in ingredients, labor and transportation. Supplies were further squeezed by parents stockpiling during lockdowns.
Despite Biden’s comment about not being informed of the looming crisis, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration began acting within days of the plant closure.
“We have been working on this for months, for months. We have been taking this incredibly seriously,” said Jean-Pierre.
She acknowledged that Biden is “frustrated” by the situation.
The White House has sought to ease the shortage by importing foreign supplies and using the Defense Production Act to ramp up domestic production. Food safety regulators and Abbott agreed last month to reopen its shuttered plant, though production has not restarted.
Biden told the execs that he has ordered two more airlifts of formula from overseas into the U.S. next week. He also outlined the White House’s efforts to require suppliers of the formula manufacturers to prioritize their orders in a bid to ease any production bottlenecks.
All of the measures may help but none will solve the formula supply shortages that have left people who depend on formula facing empty shelves or limits on purchases.
Republicans and critics of Biden say his economic policies are responsible for the shortages, which they blame for a variety of supply chain shortages and soaring inflation. The White House and Democrats scoff at that notion, saying the formula issue has little to do with broader economic issues.
The Food and Drug Administration focused on Abbott’s Michigan plant last fall while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula from the facility. The four cases occurred between September and January, causing hospitalizations and two deaths.
After detecting positive samples of rare but dangerous bacteria in multiple parts of the plant, the FDA closed the facility and Abbott announced a massive recall of its formula on Feb. 17, sparking the shortage.
U.S. regulators and Abbott announced an agreement last month that would help pave the way for reopening the plant, though production has not restarted.