The baby formula supply in eight states has been more than cut in half as the national formula shortage affecting helpless babies and their parents continues to worsen.
Baby formula out-of-stock (OOS) rates have eclipsed 50 percent in “Texas, Tennessee, Montana, West Virginia, Nevada, Arizona, Kansas and Delaware,” CNN reported.
“Our babies literally do not have the formula that they need to survive,” mother Carrie Fleming told the outlet.
OOS rates in Kansas reached 50 percent as of May 1, up from 43 percent the week prior, the Kansas City Star reported. Missouri saw a similar increase, as OOS rates climbed from 43 percent to 49 percent. According to the outlet, the OOS rates in both states at the start of the year were well below 20 percent, echoing parental concerns becoming more apparent elsewhere in the country.
Kansas mother Cara Shockley first learned of the dwindling formula supply from a coworker’s Facebook post in April, which showed naked shelves at a Walmart. Concerned for the well-being of her 14-month-old baby, she headed to her local Walmart in Kansas City.
“I started to get anxious,” Shockley said. “It was completely bare.”
Baby formula is one of the most affected products in the dysfunctional supply chain, causing fear and the urge to hoard in parents. https://t.co/uoIrhSEdfZ
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 9, 2022
Shockley, who had just half a can of formula at her home, headed to a Walmart in Shawnee, where she luckily purchased the last two remaining products. She and her husband had to travel to Shawnee the three following weeks. Each time, they purchased the only container on the shelves, according to the Star.
“It’s scary to bring up a child in these times. I’ve never heard of a baby formula shortage in my life,” Shockley explained.
Datasembly – “a provider of real-time product pricing, promotions, and assortment data for retailers of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands,” as Breitbart News noted – reports that the national OOS percentage for baby formula was 43 percent “for the week ending May 8th.”
Katie Wussler, a program coordinator at Mother & Child Education Center, throws away recalled Similac baby formula, which the company would not replace or reimburse because the donated supplies did not come with a receipt, on May 12, 2022 in Portland, Oregon. More than 60 percent of Mother & Childs formula supply was affected by the recall. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
“Since early April, baby formula out of stock rates have soared to 40 percent across the country, according to our analysis,” Datasembly CEO Ben Reich recently told Breitbart News.
“Baby formula demonstrated inflationary spikes in July of 2021, and the situation has continued to worsen the first few months of 2022.
“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.”
Low income families and those on government support programs are being hit hardest by the national shortage of baby formula, a report Thursday detailed. https://t.co/SscXHrGTxJ
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 13, 2022
“It’s not just a problem. It’s a crisis, and it’s a crisis that’s only getting worse,” said Laura Modi, CEO, and co-founder of organic baby formula company Bobbie, according to CNN.
The Biden Administration’s incoming press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, had no idea who was “running point” on the baby formula crisis when asked Wednesday, as Breitbart News Joel Pollak noted:
Instead, she assured reporters that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was rushing to make sure formula is “safe.” She blamed “Abbott’s voluntary recall of infant formula products,” which took place after four infants were hospitalized, and two died, though there is no proven link yet with the formula itself, according to the FDA.(The White House cannot get its message straight: on Monday, press secretary Jen Psaki said the FDA had “issued” the recall.)
All the more eye-popping is Rep. Kat Cammack’s (R-FL) allegation that the federal government is shipping “pallets” of precious baby formula to the border, as Breitbart News’s John Nolte highlighted in a Thursday report.
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