For months, the USA has been struggling with supply bottlenecks in baby milk. There are several reasons for this, but one important one is the complete shutdown of a manufacturing plant in the US state of Michigan. Production is now starting again there.
A major US baby milk powder factory has resumed operations after another production hiatus. Production at the plant in Sturgis, Michigan, restarted on July 1, Abbott Nutrition said.
The first Abbott plant shutdown in February over hygiene concerns had exacerbated months of supply shortages for baby milk powder in the United States, which were initially caused by supply chain problems and the loss of workers due to the corona pandemic. Production could only be resumed at the beginning of June. A few days later, it had to be stopped again due to flooding.
The first closure came after the death of two babies. The suspicion that the deaths were due to contaminated baby milk was not substantiated. However, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered significant hygiene deficiencies when examining the Abbott plant. FDA chief Robert Califf called the inspection results "shocking".
Abbott boss Robert Ford had personally apologized to the affected families because of the shortage of baby milk powder. "We are sorry for every family we have let down as our voluntary recall has increased our country's baby milk shortages," Ford said in a post published by the Washington Post in May. In the meantime, production facilities for other foods were temporarily used for baby milk. Abbott also imports baby milk to the United States from its factory in Ireland. Ford also announced "significant investments" to "ensure this never happens again."
Abbott Nutrition controls about 40 percent of the US baby formula market. The plant closure in Sturgis was therefore momentous. In mid-May, in view of the acute shortage of powdered baby milk, the US government set up an airlift to bring the infant formula in from abroad on military planes to meet the demand.
