Biden admin official: 'Still a problem' with baby formula supply

Baby formula supplies have begun to rebound, but the White House acknowledges there are continued struggles getting stock back to normal.

The shortage began earlier this year when Abbott Nutrition plant in Sturgis, Michigan, was shut down due to reports of infants being hospitalized after consuming products from the facility.

"I know that there’s obviously still a problem," U.S. Department of Agriculture official Stacy Dean told Politico.

Following a number of setbacks, production at the Sturgis plant resumed in July, prioritizing specialty formulas like EleCare, and popular Similac products. While supply chains are normalizing, in-store stock of baby formula remains uneven and unpredictable. 

"Since February, the administration has worked to address the formula shortage caused by Abbott and has taken aggressive steps to avoid this happening again," a White House spokesperson told Politico.

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The White House noted that the U.S. government is working hand-in-hand with Abbott to get production back to pre-shortage levels.

The White House spokesperson continued, "Supply is ticking up, store shelves are improving, and we continue working across government to fully restore the supplies as Abbott brings production fully online."

The Michigan plant was shut down in February and several brands of baby formula were recalled as the FDA investigated bacterial infections in infants, two of which were fatal. 

The national in-stock rate for baby formula has climbed back to 82.24%, but the supply is still below the 89% supply families were accustomed to before the formula crisis began in February. 

Around 33% of American families were still struggling to find baby formula in September, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. Meanwhile, nearly one in five affected households has less than one week of formula accessible, the same survey reveals. 

Lawmakers like Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., have been calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to address why the agency has not acted swiftly enough in response to the shortages. They have introduced bills that would accept additional formula manufactures to market. Part of the proposed legislation would allow more imports of formula. 

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While the FDA eased federal import regulations, and the Biden administration airlifted millions of pounds of formula from overseas, some mothers worried that it is a short-term fix to a market that lacks enough domestic manufacturing. 

Abbott Laboratories CEO Robert Ford said Wednesday the company has made progress in addressing the ongoing baby formula shortage in the U.S. over the past several months, providing a status update and revealing changes aimed at preventing another crisis.

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The CEO said that despite the disruptions at the Michigan facility, Abbott's move to boost global production at other sites and direct products to the U.S. nearly made up for the lack of output at the plant, saying, "We delivered roughly the same volume of formula to our U.S. customers this past quarter as we did during the three months prior to the recall."

FOX Business' Breck Dumas and Paul Best contributed to this report.