Forgot Milk?

What Families Can Learn from the U.S. Formula Shortage

One thing the pandemic and related supply chain shortages have revealed is how very fragile our food system is. One chicken-slaughtering house is shut down, and the whole nation faces a shortage for months. Mass panic begins, and toilet paper is nowhere to be found. Eggs, milk, various types of meat, produce—all have faced periods of shortage and consequent price hikes.

But perhaps no shortage has been more terrifying for parents than that in infant formula, which began during the pandemic but was deeply exacerbated when Abbott Labs shut down formula production at its Sturgis, Michigan plant in February 2022.¹ It all began when the FDA investigated the deaths of two infants from a bacteria found in infant...