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Baby formulas in the United States are going out of stock; thus, the shortage situation is getting worse. Major pharmacy chains have started limiting the sale of infant milk as there is not enough supply to meet the demand.
As per BBC News, the infant milk formula shortages in the U.S. intensified after Abbott nutrition which made the Similac brand issue a recall on the baby formula in February due to contamination.
Abbott is the main supplier of infant formula to a number of state government programs for low-income families, and it shared it is working with regulators so it can re-open its manufacturing plant. The company also said that to deal with the shortage issue, it has been sending additional shipments from a factory in Ireland. In fact, it is expecting double shipments this year.
“We have an FDA-registered plant in Cootehill, Ireland, where we've increased the volume of Similac Advance powder formula produced for the U.S. We are air-shipping product from this facility into the U.S. daily and the product is being restocked regularly,” Abbott previously said in a statement.
The company added, “Our Cootehill team sources ingredients from approximately 1,000 dairy farms in the local area. Following stringent quality and safety processes, each batch of infant formula undergoes extensive quality checks before it reaches stores.”
In any case, CNBC reported that 26 states in the U.S. have run out of baby formula. The out-of-stock rating reportedly reached more than 40% compared to just seven states three weeks before.
Based on this recent rating data, it seems that the baby formula shortage in the country will not be resolved any time soon. Rather, the situation is getting worse as more states are being hit with the shortage.
“Unfortunately, we do not see this slowing down any time soon,” Ben Reich, chief executive officer of Datasembly public data firm, said earlier this week. “Inflation, supply chain shortages and product recalls have continued to bring volatility to the category, and continues to be one of the most affected products in the market.”
Finally, major retail stores and pharmacies, including CVS Health Corp., Walgreens, Target Corp., and Kroger, have all limited the sale of infant formula as the supply is really low, Reuters reported.
