Baby formula maker Abbott Nutrition said Saturday it will resume production at its Michigan plant after meeting FDA requirements.
The plant closed in February after FDA inspectors began investigating four bacterial infections in babies who had consumed plant formula. As baby formula supplies dried up across the country and under pressure from the White House, Abbott entered into a FDA consent decree setting out the steps needed to resume production at the facility. .
Abbott said production of EleCare and other specialized and metabolic formulas will begin, and that the initial release of the product to consumers is expected to begin on June 20. But production of Similac and other formulas is still on hold, Abbott said.
Abbott said it would “increase production as quickly as we can and meet all requirements.”
But reopening the plant is not an immediate solution to the shortage. Because specialized and metabolic formulas are initially being prioritized, it will be distributed through health care providers, not in stores.
According to Bloomberg, almost 74% of store shelves are empty and 10 states are 90% without baby formula.
Abbott’s manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Michigan, on May 13, 2022. – Abbott’s representatives announced Wednesday that the Sturgis plant could reopen in the next two weeks, subject to the approval of the FDA. The company began a voluntary withdrawal after two babies became ill and two died with traces of Cronobacter sakazakii, a common environmental bacterium found in their systems after consuming formula produced at the plant. JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP via Getty Images
Although supply chain delays amid the COVID crisis and the war in Ukraine contributed to the shortage, product shortages reached crisis levels in February and the plant shutdown Abbott caused it to reach crisis levels in May. President Joe Biden announced on May 18 that he would invoke the Defense Production Act to produce more formulas and that he would fly formula from abroad as part of “Operation Formula Fly.”
Abbott was remarkably absent from a White House event earlier this week about the shortage of infant formula. Robert Cleveland, senior vice president of baby formula maker Reckitt, said they knew “from the start it would be a very serious event”.
Biden said at the event that the shortage was reported in April.