Smith Pushes For FDA To Allow Baby Formula Imports

NEW JERSEY — U.S. Rep. Chris Smith has introduced a bill to ease the U.S. baby formula shortage by requiring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to agree to international standards that will allow the importing of baby formula.

Smith (R-NJ) pushed for new legislation — the Formula Act of 2022 (H.R. 7718) — intended to bolster the U.S. infant formula supply and help strengthen its resilience to supply chain disruptions to prevent a future crisis.

The United States does not currently import foreign infant formula because the FDA does not have interchangeable standards in place to ensure foreign formula meets U.S. health code and regulations.

FDA officials on Thursday said the agency will boost formula imports shortly, with Chile, Ireland, Mexico and the Netherlands are potential sources for additional imports, a CNBC report said.

The U.S. produces 98 percent of the infant formula its consumes.

Abbott Nutrition, the nation’s largest baby formula manufacturer, issued a recall in February for several powdered formulas. The move came after four infants who consumed products from its Sturgis, Michigan, plant were hospitalized with infections from the bacteria Cronobacter sakazakii. Two of the infants died.

Abbott closed the Sturgis plant and recalled its Similac PM 60/40, Similac, Alimentum and EleCare powered formulas manufactured at the Michigan facility. The company said Cronobacter sakazakii was found at the plant, but not in areas where it makes product. All finished product tested came back negative for the bacteria, according to Abbott.

Smith said the Formula Act of 2022 is necessary to "cut bureaucratic red tape exacerbating this dire shortage and reinforce our domestic supply of infant formula.”

Stores across the country have reported being out of stock the infant formula shortages that started almost a year ago and have been compounded by the Abbott Nutrition recalls of certain lots of the popular Similac, Alimentum and EleCare brands of baby formula.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday the agency was working with manufacturers to increase production, optimize supply lines and increase product sizes. The agency is also trying to make it easier to import formula and is taking steps to increase supply, especially for specialized formula, Psaki said.

In the first week of May, baby formula out-of-stock rates were 43 percent, up from 40 percent at the end of April and 30 percent at the beginning of that month, according to Datasembly, a data analysis firm that looked at baby formula supplies at 11,000 U.S. retail locations.

More than half of states reported out-of-stock rates between 40 percent and 50 percent.

Smith and other Republicans called on President Joe Biden and FDA Commissioner Robert Califf to take immediate, meaningful action to resolve the crisis and provide greater transparency on efforts to increase the supply of baby formula.

“As millions of American families scramble to feed their infants, President Biden has failed to take effective action to resolve this life-or-death crisis and ensure parents have access to this critical source of nutrition,” said Rep. Smith.