“Please let there be baby milk in the next store”, begs a young mother in one of the testimonials we have compiled in our video. For many American parents, this month of May has been punctuated by endless car journeys in search of a basic necessity that has become very difficult to find: formula milk to feed their babies. A shortage with multiple causes. While the flow of infant milk was already slowed by the pandemic, which disrupted supply chains, the shortage worsened after the closure in February of the Abbott Nutrition manufacturing plant in Michigan.
The nation’s largest infant formula supplier has had to cease production due to an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after bacterial infections killed two infants. A major brake on supplies to the United States, in a context already marked by inflation and shortages of certain products, in connection with the war in Ukraine.
In response, the US administration has allocated $28 million to the FDA to increase staff responsible for inspecting powdered milk before it hits the grocery store shelves, but also to prevent future shortages. In addition, President Biden announced on Wednesday May 18 the establishment of an airlift to import stocks of infant formula from other countries. The operation, dubbed “Fly Formula” – or “the flight of baby milk” – is based on an old decree dating from the Cold War, the Defense Production Act.
Washington’s “top priority”
Joe Biden hammered it, the formula supply is the “top priority” of his government. As for the American first lady, Jill Biden, she also spoke to American parents this Thursday, May 19 to express her compassion and answer their questions, alongside the director of public health, doctor Vivek Murthy.
The latter said that it was possible to change the brand of milk for most babies without risk, to reassure parents and warn them that they are likely to find brands they do not know on store shelves, imported from abroad. He also advised American moms and dads against trying to make their own infant formula, or replacing it with milk intended for older children.