Why is there a baby formula shortage?

A nationwide shortage of baby formula has left parents across the U.S. struggling to feed their children.

Retailers like CVS and Walgreens have rationed how many formula products each customer can buy as stock on the shelves remains limited. 

The shortage is affecting millions. Almost 20 percent of babies are supplemented with infant formula during their first two days of life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said.

At six months, about 25 percent of babies are exclusively breastfeeding, meaning three-fourths of infants rely on some kind of formula at that age. 

Here’s why there is a shortage and what you need to know about it.

Abbott Nutrition’s recall 

A big reason for the shortage is Abbott Nutrition’s recall of several of its products in February.

Abbott is one of the nation’s largest producers of baby formula. It recalled several of its baby formula powdered products, including Similac, Alimentum and EleCare three months ago.

Those recalls came after two infants died from a rare infection after ingesting some of Abbott’s products produced in the company’s Sturgis, Mich., plant. 

At the time of the recall, Abbott said it found “evidence of Cronobacter sakazakii in the plant in non-product contact areas.” The bacteria is a food-borne pathogen, and infection from it is rare but can be fatal.

Abbott said earlier this week it had reached an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to resume production at the Michigan site, adding that products would be back on the shelves in six to eight weeks. 

In the meantime, the company has said it would import formula from an FDA-registered facility in Ireland to ease the effects of the shortage. 

The decision to reopen the facility came after the CDC said its investigation did not find a link between Abbott formulas and infant illnesses.

Supply chain woes

The recall is far from the only reason for the shortage.

Product recalls are not all that atypical, and the formula shortage has been exacerbated by supply chain issues, which are in large part due to the coronavirus pandemic.  

After families stockpiled on infant formula at the start of the pandemic, sales fell last year while customers worked through what they had already purchased and demand seemingly slowed down, Reuters reported. 

There was also an increase in births in 2022, which led to a spike in demand for baby formula, Lyman Stone, the director of research for Demographic Intelligence, told The Atlantic. 

Politics

The shortage started to receive more attention last week and became a bigger political story, with Republicans blaming the Biden administration for not taking action sooner. 

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the White House last week on one of her last days on the job, saying that the administration has “not waited to take action.”

“Well look, hindsight is always 20-20,” Psaki said.

“But I would say, what’s important to note, is as much as this hasn’t been reported on, because people were not seeing shortages at the stores as much, there was an announced recall back in February and there were steps we have been taking every single day since then, with the FDA in the lead, to help address any potential shortage,” she added.