I’m Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle. You are reading a special Friday edition for paying subscribers only, written by Senior Editor Will Kaback. Thank you for supporting our work, and please spread the word!
Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here!
Setting the table.
Sometimes, consuming the news can feel like trying to carry all the bags from a big grocery run into the house in a single trip — you’ve got to balance uneven weights in uneven ways while trying to do a normal task like opening your front door. As the news increasingly moves to digital platforms, it can feel like we're carrying that weight every hour of every day.
Every once in a while on our endless grocery run, we'll drop something. Case in point — remember the baby formula shortage? We forgot about it too.
Our news cycles are filled with stories that seem to disappear just as soon as they arrive — stories that feel like they will have a major impact on our country or planet but simply fade away. Of course, that’s not to say these stories are unimportant. While they may not have become historic events, they still offer important lessons.
At Tangle, we’ve recently been reflecting on our coverage from the past five years, identifying stories that we covered once or twice, thought could reshape our lives, and then… they didn’t. And we’re asking: What happened to that story?
So today, we’re trying to figure out how one story in particular has panned out. The topic should be familiar to most: the 2022 baby formula shortage. As we’ll get into below, the story combined pandemic-era challenges with existing supply chain issues (and a bit of bad luck), raising fears that millions of infants across the U.S. were facing a nutritional crisis. But did those concerns come to bear? And are the underlying issues actually resolved?
If you like this piece — and the idea of revisiting other stories from recent years — write in and let us know what topics you’d be interested in us covering in the future. We’re considering making this a recurring series, and we’d love you to help shape it.
Rewind.
At the height of the formula shortage in May 2022, news outlets framed the story as a major crisis with the potential to impact millions of families.
The Atlantic described a “full-blown national crisis,” as did The New York Times.
The Wall Street Journal suggested the shortage “could leave parents scrambling for months.”
NPR called it “a major stressor for parents.”
Fox Business said the shortage was reaching a “‘crisis’ level” and “sparking panic.”
The Associated Press wrote about “parents hunting for baby formula as shortage spans US.”
CNN said the “problem is getting worse.”
So how did we get here?
In February 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recall of powdered infant formula produced by Abbott Nutrition at its Sturgis, Michigan, facility after reports of product contamination linked to Cronobacter sakazakii bacteria. Four infants became sick after consuming formula produced at the factory, and two died from the illness. Abbott maintained that the illnesses and deaths were not due to contaminated formula, citing bacteria samples collected from the infants that did not match those found in the company’s factory. However, the FDA said its investigation did not absolve Abbott, noting that bacterial samples from the factory did not need to be an exact genetic match with those drawn from the infants to indicate that it was the source of infection.
Abbott is one of three major formula manufacturers in the United States, producing over 40% of all formula sold domestically (primarily under the brand Similac), and the Sturgis plant is the largest of its facilities. Abbott shut down the plant in early 2022 after the FDA’s recall order.
The shutdown exacerbated existing baby formula shortages linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, during which hoarding, labor shortages, and supply-chain issues impacted availability. In April 2022, Target, Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens began limiting how much infant and toddler formula customers could purchase per visit. Later that month, 40% of the top-selling baby formula products were out of stock. In May, The Washington Post reported that the out-of-stock rate for infant formula was over 50% in eight states and ranged from 30% to 40% in several others. Families who relied on the government’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) — which supplies formula to roughly 40% of all American babies — faced additional challenges due to the program’s restrictions on which brands of formula it supplements (though the government did waive some restrictions during the shortage).
As the situation worsened, President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to allow formula manufacturers priority access to materials used to make infant formula; Biden also directed several federal agencies to partner to transport formula shipments from foreign suppliers to the U.S.
Tangle covered the shortage in May 2022.
Abbott resumed operations at its Sturgis plant in June after reaching an agreement on safety standards with the FDA. While flooding from severe storms temporarily delayed production shortly after the plant reopened, it was fully operational in August. By October 2022, the crisis had somewhat subsided, with some 18% of powdered formula out of stock during the first week of the month, compared to 31% in July. While those stock rates were still higher than historical averages, the acute nature of the shortage had largely abated by the end of the year.
Below, we’ll share a snapshot of the reactions from commentators and experts during the peak of the shortage, including some original interviews from those involved with the shortage. We will also dive into how the issue was resolved, and finally unpack what lessons we can take from the story.
Reactions.
Newsrooms and commentators across the political spectrum characterized the shortage as a major crisis for families and, to varying degrees, blamed the Biden administration for failing to act sooner to prevent the worst-case scenario from transpiring.
The Bloomberg editorial board blamed “bad policy and red tape” for the crisis, writing, “Decades of bad policy have led to an unduly concentrated market. Excessive tariffs and other trade barriers have all but shut out imported infant formula. Even if consumers were willing to pay higher prices, the red tape that the government imposes on foreign products, and retailers wishing to distribute them, can be prohibitive.” In The Guardian, Matt Stoller criticized the “monopolized distribution system” for formula, writing, “Policymakers should stop allowing exclusive contracts in return for rebates. That means restructuring baby formula buying policy, but it also means repealing the anti-kickback exemption for GPOs, and enforcing laws against exclusive contracts and price discrimination in the form of rebates more generally.”
Others, like National Review’s Jim Geraghty, said the supply chain shortages caused by the pandemic created a unique environment for a protracted shortage. “Manufacturers of perishable goods would always prefer that the demand for their products be steady, or preferably growing at a manageable pace. But the pandemic disrupted American baby-making as much as it disrupted every other American activity,” Geraghty wrote.
Lawmakers decried the shortage, with Republicans blaming the Biden administration’s policies for exacerbating the problem. In May 2022, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said “bare shelves Biden” was to blame, a message echoed by the House Republican Twitter account. Democrats called for emergency measures to boost production and increase access to formula while noting that structural reforms to the industry were needed. “It is horrible that in this country, we have a baby milk shortage. I think we have to respond to that and then revisit the way we’re structuring these contracts,” Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) said. The House also voted to pass $28 million in emergency spending to help the FDA restock shelves and improve food safety measures.
Groups supporting mothers and young children reported widespread panic among the populations they served. Lindsay Groff, the executive director of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), told us that “when those empty shelves started to show up in various places, people were frantically looking for ways to feed the baby. There were a lot of desperate calls from families looking to us for help.” HMBANA operates a network of milk banks across the United States that provide donated breast milk to infants, and they reported that inquiries for donor milk rose 20% during the height of the formula shortage. Groff called that period “the most acute shortage” she’s experienced since she joined HMBANA eight years ago. “It really opened my eyes to the extent of the supply chain problems we had,” she said.
Finally, the American public expressed the belief that the shortage was a pressing national issue. A May 2022 Data for Progress poll found that 94% of likely voters had heard about the shortage, and 84% were worried about parents not being able to find and purchase baby formula. These concerns were consistent across partisan lines.
Lessons.
The proximate causes of the shortage were apparent from its early days, but in the years since, Congress, the FDA, and researchers have found that the roots of the crisis went much deeper.
