The head of one of the four companies that control 90 percent of the US baby formula market warned that the nationwide shortage could continue until the end of the year, as critics of President Joe Biden scoffed at his claim that “only a reader of thoughts “may have predicted the current crisis.
On Friday, Formula One giant CEO Murray Kessler told Reuters he expected shortages and increased demand to continue for the “balance of the year”.
Kessler said their Ohio and Vermont plants are working at 115 percent capacity to compensate for the shutdown of Chicago-based Abbott – but added that supplies will remain volatile until the rest of 2022.
“We’ve stepped up and killed ourselves to do everything we can,” Kessler said.
At the request of the FDA, Perrigo is focusing on four items: Similac Pro Sensitive and Pro Advance and Enfamil Gentle Ease and Infant, Kessler said.
The company added that it makes other formulas.
There are also smaller businesses that produce some national formula brands, including Bobbie.
Murray Kessler, head of the formula milk giant Perrigo, warned that the shortage of baby food could continue in 2022.
The closure of Abbott’s infant formula plant in Sturgis, Michigan, has exacerbated the national pandemic shortage, leading to empty shelves in large stores and supermarkets and panicked parents.
Abbott brands include Similac formulas.
Perrigo works with retailers, including Walmart and Target Corp, so they “get something every week,” Kessler said.
The distribution of retailers is based on the average of what retailers received before “this crisis,” he said.
President Biden, meanwhile, has angered him by saying the problem could be resolved within weeks – just as the FDA said earlier – without offering further unique details on how he plans to tackle the problem.
He was also accused of being bold after telling reporters on Friday that he needed mental strength to anticipate the crisis, even though the alarms rang in the summer of 2021.
The nationwide availability has been steadily above 10 percent since August, and in January this year The Wall Street Journal warned of an impending problem.
Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, said Friday morning that the White House had called on states to take action to tackle the problem in February – after the shortage deepened with the withdrawal of some products manufactured by Abbott Laboratories on February 17, and shutting down one of their factories.
Joe Biden said on Friday that no one could predict the current shortage of baby formula – although his own National Economic Council said Friday morning that it had asked states to do more in February.
“In fact, we gave the states guidelines for using flexibility the day after that withdrawal in February,” he told CNN’s Caitlin Collins.
Still, Biden insisted on Friday that no one could have foreseen the crisis that is causing desperate parents to go from store to store trying to find the urgently needed formula.
The president hosted a community police event when asked about the situation with the adapted baby. He said he would only answer questions about the police, before reluctantly tackling the current crisis.
Asked if his administration should have acted earlier, Biden said: “If we were better thought readers, I guess we could have done it.”
His response was criticized.
The FDA has completed its investigation, but has not yet provided further details on when the Abbott plant in Sturgis, Michigan, may reopen.
This chart shows how quickly the national crisis is escalating. The scale of the crisis is revealed in the new analysis, which shows that only 43 percent of the usual national supply of baby formula is available.
CHRONOLOGY SHOWS HOW THE BIGGEST BABY FORMULA PLANT IN AMERICA STOPPED PRODUCTION
Abbott Laboratories, the largest supplier of baby formula in the United States, shut down production at its Michigan plant in February 2022 amid reports of fatal bacterial infections.
The chronology of events shows that the closure of the plant was previously monitored by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
September 2021: The FDA conducted a four-day inspection of the Abbott Laboratories plant in Sturgess, Michigan.
The inspection report reveals that the plant “does not maintain” clean and sanitary conditions in at least one building that produces, processes, packs or stores baby formula.
FDA officials also observed poor hand washing among staff at the Abbott plant, which “works directly with infant formula.”
The FDA also noted a case of improper equipment maintenance and temperature control.
October 2021: An informant sends a 34-page document to the FDA outlining potential concerns about the Sturgess plant.
The document, which was published by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro in April 2022, was written by a former factory employee.
The employee accused the plant of poor practices in cleaning up, falsifying records, releasing untested infant formulas and hiding information during an FDA audit in 2019, among other issues.
January-March 2022: The FDA conducted numerous inspections at the Sturgis plant over three months in 2022. A ten-page inspection report revealed numerous facility failures.
The agency claims that the plant has failed to ensure that all surfaces that come in contact with infant formula are maintained to prevent cross-contamination.
The report states that the facility “has not set up a process control system” to ensure that infant formula is “not tampered with due to the presence of microorganisms in the formula or processing medium”.
Officials also say the plant did not disclose in an investigation report whether there was a health hazard in the facility.
In addition, the report states that factory workers did not wear the “necessary protective material” when working directly with infant formula.
February 17: U.S. health officials urgently warn parents not to use three popular baby formulas manufactured at Abbott’s Michigan plant. Investigators say the products were recently linked to bacterial contamination after one baby died and three others fell ill.
Abbott voluntarily withdrew several major brands and closed its Sturgis plant.
The FDA also said it was investigating four reports of babies being hospitalized after consuming formula, including one who died.
February 28: Abbott Laboratories expands the withdrawal of Similac baby formulas after the death of a second baby who was exposed to baby formula powder.
April 15: Abbott issues a statement stating that it is working closely with the FDA to restart operations at the Sturgis plant.
Week of April 24: The national share of depleted baby milk reached 40 percent. Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota, which appear to be hardest hit by the shortage, reported stockpile depletion levels of about 50 percent.
May 10: Abbott launches a statement to DailyMail.com claiming that an “in-depth investigation” by the FDA and Abbott reveals that the “baby formula” produced at our Sturgis facility is not a likely source of infection in reported cases and that it is not there was an outbreak caused by products from the facility. “
Abbott said he was “working closely with the FDA to restart operations” at the plant, saying the spokesman said: “We continue to make progress on corrective action and will take further action as we work to address issues related to the recent withdrawal.”
The FDA told DailyMail.com it was in talks with “Abbott and other manufacturers to increase production of various specialty and metabolic products,” but declined to say when the Sturgis plant could reopen.
Senator Mitt Romney issued a letter to the FDA and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging leaders to address the shortage of formula and work to prevent future threats to the health of babies.
May 11: Capitol Hill lawmakers announce plans to hold a hearing in two weeks on infant shortages.
Abbott has announced that it will take up to ten weeks for the company to deliver baby formula to retailers after the Sturgess plant reopens.
Abbott also said: “After a thorough review of all available data, there is no evidence to link our formulas to these baby diseases.”
“America does not need a mind reader as president. He needs a reader of the Wall Street Journal, “said one.
“According to Jim Geratti, the newspaper had a history of a shortage of formula as early as January 12.”
Another noted: “People have been talking about an impending shortage for months.”
Another added: “@POTUS I’m not a mind reader, I listen to people talk about baby formula and look at store shelves, I could see the problem weeks ago.
“Like everyone else, it has nothing to do with rising prices, as you said earlier, it has nothing to do with invading. Common sense is all that is needed.
Others said the shutdown of Abbott’s plant should have triggered alarms.
“#Biden joked and said he wanted to be a mind reader in light of the #BabyFormula shortage,” a man wrote on Twitter.
“But the White House acknowledged that ‘we were aware… back in February… since then we have a team on this from the FDA and the inter-agency process.’
“Then I sent PALLETS with baby formula to BORDER.”
Another sarcastically mentioned Biden’s new Board of Misinformation, an online disinformation advisory board called by critics the Ministry of Truth.
“Call the disinformation board!
Biden had just said that he would have switched to baby formula faster if he had been a mind reader. HE KNOWS THIS IN FEBRUARY !! ‘
Anger at Biden’s unforeseen rejection of the issue came when Perrigo’s CEO, one of the top four baby formula makers, warned of a permanent shortage.
The problem is compounded by the pandemic and supply chain problems that date back to the beginning of the epidemic.
This is exacerbated by the fact that 98 percent of infant formula is locally produced, and US regulations …
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