U.S. OUTLINES STEPS TO EASE BABY FORMULA SHORTAGE

Under fire from parents and politicians, President Joe Biden’s administration announced steps Monday to ease a nationwide shortage of baby formula, including reopening the largest domestic manufacturing plant and increasing imports from overseas.

The Food and Drug Administration said it was streamlining its review process to make it easier for foreign manufacturers to begin shipping more formula into the U.S.

“The FDA expects that the measures and steps it’s taking with infant formula manufacturers and others will mean more and more supply is on the way or on store shelves moving forward,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf told reporters.

Califf said the U.S. will prioritize companies that can provide the largest shipments and quickly show documentation that their formulas are safe and compatible with U.S. nutrition standards.

The policy is structured as a temporary measure lasting six months.

The imports announcement came shortly after regulators said they’d reached a deal to allow Abbott Nutrition to restart its Sturgis, Mich.-based plant, which has been closed since February due to contamination issues.

The company must overhaul its safety protocols and procedures before resuming production.

Neither step will have an immediate effect on tight supplies that have left many parents searching for formula online or in food banks.

After getting the FDA’s approval, Abbott said it will take eight to ten weeks before new products begin arriving in stores.

The company didn’t set a timeline to restart manufacturing. Getting imports into the U.S. supply chain will also take several weeks, according to administration officials.

Products from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are expected to meet the standards needed for importation.

But regulators said national industry data shows that most U.S. stores, on average, still have 80 percent of their formula inventory in stock. They suggested some of the empty shelves seen in recent days may be due to panic buying by parents.

DAVID J. PHILLIP AP Katherine Gibson-Haynes helps distribute baby formula during a drive Saturday in Houston. Parents seeking formula are running into bare shelves in part because of supply disruptions and a safety recall.