US risks another baby formula shortage: Ex-FDA leader

The U.S. remains in a vulnerable position and is one disaster from ending up where it was last February when the closing of an infant formula plant sparked a nationwide shortage, according to the Food and Drug Administration’s former top food safety official.

“The nation remains one outbreak, one tornado, flood or cyber-attack away from finding itself in a similar place to that of February 17, 2002,” said Frank Yiannas, the former FDA deputy commissioner for food and policy response.

Yiannis testified Tuesday before a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee, which is examining what went wrong during the infant formula crisis. He said the FDA failed to conduct adequate inspections and ignored a whistle-blower report warning of a serious bacteria outbreak at Abbott Nutrition’s powdered infant formula production plant in Sturgis, Michigan.

Abbott, the largest infant formula manufacturer in the US, issued a recall of its formula and shut down its Michigan plant for months to clean up the bacteria. This set off a chain reaction drastically reducing the U.S. formula supply and left store shelves empty and parents desperately scrambling to find formula.