Feds update WIC baby formula laws
Updated laws will soon make it easier for parents living at or near the poverty line to purchase baby formula for their infants and toddlers, under changes to federal regulations spurred by last year's shortage on grocery store shelves.
The changes, which go into effect Feb. 12, require states to draft a disaster plan for addressing any future shortage, and allows government agencies to purchase formula from another source should the preferred contractor that supplies it for government programs stops production or runs out.
Meanwhile, grocers say that supplies of infant formula have increased significantly since the shortage that saw empty shelves, reports of price gouging and parents resorting to watering down baby bottles to make their child's hard-to-find food last longer.
Wayne Pesce, president of the
Connecticut Food Association, a Hartford-based trade group that includes supermarket operators, said that for individuals who are purchasing infant formula outside of government programs, the shortage has eased significantly.
“The availability problem isn't what it was in February 2022,” he said of the present condition. During the shortage, “I was reporting the weekly supply information to the governor's office every week. I took between seven months to a year to reach a level where enough of each store's order was being filled so that we no longer had to keep reporting to the governor.”
The new rule changes should also make it easier for participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service published in the Federal Register the codified changes to the rules designed to improve access to infant formula, particularly for those in the program also known as WIC.
The changes were provisions of the Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022. Among the changes made were requirements for state agencies to include language in their WIC infant formula rebate contracts that address what happens in the event of an infant formula recall.
The law was crafted in the aftermath of the shortage that began in February 2022, created as result of supply chain problems, as well as a large scale product recall after a bacteria outbreak in a Michigan factory and the death of two babies who allegedly died after consuming Abbott infant formula.
Just a few manufacturers make and supply 90 percent of the infant formula sold in this country, lawmakers noted at the time.
The Access to Baby Formula
Act signed into law last May amended the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to develop a waiver authority to address emergencies, disasters, and supply chain disruptions by ensuring states that contract with companies for the WIC program can secure supplies from additional manufacturers. It also waives requirements that can slow the process to get formula back on the shelves, without sacrificing safety standards, and strengthens coordination and information sharing between the Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding any supply chain disruptions, federal officials said.
The changes also added requirements to state agency infant formula cost containment contracts, and requires WIC agencies at the state level to develop a plan of alternate operating procedures, commonly known as disaster plans.
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5., said the changes made to the WIC program in the face of the shortage are important. Hayes, who represents the 5th District, is a ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture.
“When the baby formula shortage began last year, many parents were left wondering how they would feed their children,” she said. “For parents enrolled in WIC, there was an added pressure of having to purchase specific formula based on program requirements. The shortage revealed how dangerous those limitations can be.”
Approximately half of the baby formula purchased in the United States is purchased through the WIC program. According to data from the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, an estimated 96,100 residents are eligible for WIC, but a little over 46 percent of those eligible actually participate in the program.