FDA chief: Infant formula shortages could begin to ease within days
by TheHill.com - 05/19/22 2:16 PM ET
The head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told a House panel Thursday that the infant formula shortages will begin to ease over the next few days, but had few answers for how the agency allowed a manufacturing plant with known safety issues to continue operating for months without stepping in.
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf was the first administration official to answer questions before Congress about the formula shortage, which has recently caught lawmakers’s attention. Now facing pressure from frustrated families, those lawmakers are finding no easy solutions.
The scarcity is partly due to the closure of a manufacturing plant operated by Abbott Nutrition. The plant has been shut down since February, after four infants who consumed formula made there were hospitalized with a rare bacterial infection.
The FDA earlier this week announced a preliminary consent agreement with Abbott to restart production, pending safety upgrades and certifications.
“I am pleased to say we’ve made very significant progress” on reopening the plant, Califf told members of a House appropriations subcommittee, “and I think we are on track to get it open within the next week to two weeks, most likely at the outbound two weeks.”
Califf said the combination of increased production from other manufacturers and new authority on importing formula means “we should see improvement within days.”
However, he acknowledged “it will be a few weeks before we’re back to normal.”
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https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3494665-fda-chief-infant-formula-shortages-could-ease-within-days/
