In May of 2022, the FDA was assuring American parents that the shortage of baby formula being experienced across the country was temporary and was due to the closure of an Abbott Industries manufacturing plant found to be contaminated with dangerous bacteria.
The plant is now up and running, but the formula shortage is still present. In fact, according to the government’s own statistics, the shortage is even worse.
The US reported a 30% out-of-stock rate for formula nationwide, based on data from the week ended July 24. But in some areas, the out-of-stock rate tops 80 percent.
And Biden’s much-publicized “Berlin Airlift in Reverse” saw Germany flying infant formula to the U.S. As a publicity stunt, it worked fine. But as a solution to the problem, it didn’t work so well.
The Biden Administration revealed last week that as of July 24, the Operation Fly Formula program has transported the equivalent of 61 million 8-ounce bottles of formula into the U.S.
But Bergeron – like many other parents – fears the efforts aren’t enough.
‘We were put in a position that no mothers should be put in,’ she previously told Fox News. ‘We feel helpless. We feel like, as a community, we are trying to take care of this instead of [the right people] stepping in.
‘People are not paying attention to what’s really going on here and the severity of it, but it’s still happening. It’s like they just forgot.’
The Biden administration is praying that people will just forget the baby formula shortage given it’s another demonstration of the absolute incompetence of the executive branch in solving a problem that any other administration would handle with ease.
The first thing that has to happen is that the Biden administration has to stop trying to solve the problem. This is a supply and demand problem, not a government management problem. The more that the executive branch tries to “manage” the problem, the worse it gets.
Since hitting a low of 22.6 percent out-of-stock rate in June, the formula situation has barely improved. And administration doubletalk on when things will improve hasn’t helped any.
But according to IRI, in 2021, an average of about 561,000 pounds of dry powder formula was sold each day, or about 17 million pounds each month. That means the Operation Fly Formula missions announced to date account for just about a week of typical powder formula sales in the US.
Kroger has received some supply from the Operation Fly Formula shipments but told CNN this week that it has not seen a “big impact” on inventory yet.
Smoke and mirrors aren’t getting it done. This is not a PR problem. But when you’re facing disaster in the midterm elections, smoke and mirrors are all you have.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member