FDA announces it will make it easier to import some baby formulas to ease shortage - CNN

Robert Califf said in a statement.

Susan Mayne, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said on a media call Monday that "it depends in part on what kind of information we get in from others, but I think we're looking at weeks in terms of getting the imported product into the market."

The news comes as the White House is working with key manufacturers to help provide logistics support during the baby formula shortage, an official said in a statement on Monday.

"The White House is having ongoing conversations with the four major infant formula manufacturers -- Reckitt, Abbott, Nestle/Gerber, and Perrigo -- to work with them to identify transportation, logistical, and supplier hurdles to increasing production of formula at their US- and FDA-approved facilities, to expand the amount and speed of FDA-approved formula being shipped into the country, and ensure that formula is quickly moving to retailers from factories," the White House official said.

CNN reported earlier Monday that the Biden administration is confronting a barrage of questions and criticism for the national baby formula shortage that has anxious and angry parents hopping from store to store in search of baby food.

The administration offered a new website, HHS.gov/formula, to provide resources to families in need, but when a CNN reporter tested out some of those options, the exercise resulted in apologetic customer service representatives, one hold time that lasted well over an hour and serious challenges in finding baby formula through some of the main suggestions listed on the new Health and Human Services website.

The White House is also in "ongoing communication" with Target, Amazon, Walmart and other major retailers, the official said, "to identify parts of the country that may be at risk of critically low supply of infant formula, and have offered to work with manufacturers and retailers to bring more formula to those parts of the country, including with US government transportation and logistics support."

President Joe Biden held virtual meetings Thursday with the leadership of Target and Walmart, as well as formula manufacturers Reckitt and Gerber, respectively.

infant formula production and they should prioritize their production and delivery," the official noted.

During an appearance on CNN's "New Day" on Monday, Califf said the administration is "doing everything we can" to resolve the shortage.

Califf pointed to efforts to work with manufacturers to increase production, to work on the supply chain and to work closely with Abbott to get its shuttered plant open as soon as possible.

After Abbott restarts the site, it will take six to eight weeks for the products to reach store shelves, the company said Monday.

Pressed on how much of an effect the move to make it easier to import some formulas will have, Califf said the situation more broadly will "gradually improve" over a "few weeks."

This Thursday, Califf testifies before the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee on the FDA's 2023 budget request and on the oversight of infant formula.

The baby formula shortage has been exacerbated by the shutdown of the country's largest formula plant, the Abbott Nutrition facility in Sturgis, Michigan.

Production halted at the facility in February after reports that four infants who consumed formula manufactured at the plant had fallen ill with rare and serious infections caused by Cronobacter sakazakii bacteria.