. The formula shortage has been most acutely felt in Minnesota, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, North and South Dakota, Rhode Island and Texas, where between 40-54 percent of baby formula products have been out of stock in recent weeks.
Abbott is the sole-source contractor to WIC programs in all of those states, as the records disclosed by USDA demonstrate. In other words, low-income parents in those states must buy Abbott products if they want their infant formula purchases reimbursed by the government. Officials in Minnesota made federal officials aware of the problem last September after an infant in the state contracted cronobacter. The baby was hospitalized for 22 days and ultimately survived, according to
The FDA has also taken heat itself for failing to act on this issue until earlier this year. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi , chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, wrote to the agency on, asking why it waited to warn the public of the problem. Krishnamoorthi noted that the FDA detected cronobacter at the Abbott facility in Sturgis eight times between 2019 and 2022.
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