Grand Canyon Times

A U.S. representative from Florida blamed the baby formula shortage throughout the nation on Pres. Joe Biden's shutdown of a plant in Sturgis, Michigan.

The shortage, exacerbated by stockpiles of supplies at the U.S.-Mexico border, is hitting Arizona hard.

U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Florida) visited McAllen, Texas, last week. There, she viewed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) warehouses where supplies of baby formula were stored.

"Border Patrol agents are stockpiling supplies, including diapers and formula, and have been for months," Cammack said on Facebook. "More supplies and formula have been ordered and are on the way to the border ahead of the end of Title 42. CBP agents are providing formula at the border while unable to find formula for their own families. Stores just miles away in Texas are out of supplies and have placed water jugs on shelves to make them appear full."

Cammack continued the discussion on a separate Facebook page.

"This formula shortage is a crisis of Biden’s creation. Biden's FDA shut down the  Sturgis, Michigan, Abbott plant — responsible for over 40% of the nation's formula manufacturing — with no plan to backfill supplies following the shutdown," she said.

After she claimed that she received news from a Border Patrol agent that the southern border has a baby formula stockpile for people who have entered the U.S. illegally, Cammack made a trip to the border to see for herself. Her trip confirmed there are "multiple stocked warehouses ... filled with baby formula," she told Fox Business. This comes during a crisis for American formula-reliant mothers who are experiencing a serious shortage of the necessity for newborn babies.

Cammack first notified the public about the Border Patrol report in a video posted on Facebook on May 11, according to the Washington Examiner.

"They are sending pallets, pallets of baby formula to the border,” Cammack said in the video. "Meanwhile, in our own district at home, we cannot find baby formula," she said, holding a photo of empty shelves where the formula should be. "It is not the children's fault at all. But, what is infuriating to me is that this is another example of the America-last agenda that the Biden administration continues to perpetuate."

Cammack posted two comparison photos to her Twitter account on May 11– one she received from a Border Patrol agent, showing full shelves at the southern border, and the other showing a bare local grocery store shelf that should contain baby formula.

The formula shortage stems from an incident on Feb. 17, when Abbott Nutrition voluntarily recalled its Michigan-manufactured products, according to Fortune. The company also shut down the facility, following reports that four infants became ill from bacterial infection and two died after consuming formula produced in the Michigan plant. 

"A whistleblower report submitted to the FDA in October 2021 alleged further health and safety compliance issues at the facility and contributed to a formal inspection by the agency" in early 2022, Fortune said.

While numerous factors contributed to shortfalls in the amount of baby formula on store shelves, Observer.com reported that the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) slow reaction to whistleblower reports of tainted formula in October was among the most crucial. 

The FDA did not start an investigation into food safety practices at the Michigan facility until January – three months after the initial reports, according to Observer.com. Then, the FDA warned consumers about certain powdered infant formula products on Feb. 17, and Abbott closed the facility while initiating a recall.

As the nationwide formula shortage worsens, more than half of infant formula products are out of stock in Arizona. So-called Baby Formula Out-of-Stock levels reached +40%, with certain metro areas as high as 57%, Datasembly, a software company that tracks real-time product pricing, said on its Facebook page on May 10. Arizona and the Phoenix metro area had a 51% out-of-stock rate for formula as of May 13, 3TV/CBS5 said.

"Dozens of parents in the group 'Arizona Baby Formula BST' are posting multiple daily updates on where formula is in stock," reporter Taylor Seely said on Twitter. "In some cases, moms are buying whatever they find in hopes to be able to trade it online."

The Biden administration announced on May 17 that an agreement between the FDA and Abbott Nutrition will allow the facility to reopen and produce formula again. In another step, the administration is working with manufacturers and retailers producing formula for the U.S. market "to ensure that formula that is being produced here or coming in from abroad is quickly moving from factories to retailers," senior administration officials said.

It might be weeks until production and distribution return to normal, according to The Washington Post. 

The situation illustrates "a serious problem across the FDA portfolio, where there are a limited number of manufacturers," Peter Pitts, former FDA associate commissioner, told The Washington Post. "Making baby formula is a sophisticated, expensive proposition, so consolidation is going to happen. The downside is when one of those facilities goes offline."