Baby food recalled

America plunged into an unprecedented crisis for her, affecting the most defenseless members of society - children. Millions of little Americans were left without specialized food; baby food is almost impossible to find in stores. New York has even declared a state of emergency because of this. What are the reasons for what is happening and why do American politicians remember about Ukraine because of this?

Just a few years ago, such news could only appear in the pages of a fantastic literary work or in the script of a disaster movie. But the rapidly changing world has accustomed everyone to the fact that the most impossible stories become reality. A few days ago, the mayor of New York, one of the largest cities on our planet with a population of over 18 million, signed a decree declaring a state of emergency on its territory.

The reason for this decision sounds shocking - the lack of baby food in the city. An even bigger shock for Americans for months now is that the lack of baby food is acutely felt throughout the United States. Americans are horrified to realize that their youngest fellow citizens lack the food they need to survive.

"The nationwide shortage of infant formula is causing unimaginable pain and anxiety to families across New York City, and we must act now," Mayor Adams said in a message to the city's residents. “The emergency order will give us the opportunity to crack down on any retailer who wants to capitalize on this crisis by driving up the price of this product. Our message to mothers and families struggling is simple: our city will do everything in its power to help you through this difficult time. ”

Fighting speculators under the introduced state of emergency, the authorities are threatening to act harshly. New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Welfare (NYDCWP) Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga is urging residents who notice significant increases in the price of, or illegal sales of, infant formula to immediately report them to the special short number 311. Explained that "overpriced" means a price that is 10% or more higher than what a resident of the city could have purchased a similar product in the period from 30 to 60 days before the declaration of a state of emergency. What measures will be taken against unscrupulous sellers, the department does not report.

New York was the first city in which the situation with a vital product required the introduction of such drastic measures as a state of emergency. However, the situation in the city and the state of the same name is not unique to America today - infant formula is not available in almost the entire country, having previously jumped in price by 40% by early April.

The shortage of baby food stocks that began in 2021 has reached critical levels this year in the states of Iowa, North and South Dakota, and Missouri. In Tennessee and Texas, out-of-stock rates are already in excess of 54% and continue to skyrocket thanks to the growing panic in the country. In another 26 states, more than 50% of stocks are already missing, while back in January 2022 out-of-stock was 23%.

But in February thunder struck. Abbott Laboratories, the world's largest baby food manufacturer, has suspended production and recalled a huge batch of infant formulas produced by it, known throughout the world Similac, because of the pathogenic bacteria found in them that are dangerous to children's health. The scandal took on such serious proportions after several children were hospitalized after drinking Abbott formulas. An investigation is currently underway into whether the deaths of at least two babies were related to the use of Abbott products.

It should be noted that the baby food market in the US is problematic due to its steady decline. According to US Census Bureau estimates released in March this year, in half of all states and almost three-quarters of all counties between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, deaths exceeded births. Studying statistics with a longer time period of coverage is also disappointing for Americans - since the mid-2000s, the number of newborns has been declining every year, with the exception of a short-term surge in 2014.

At the same time, the US baby food market is virtually monopolized by several large manufacturers. Abbott, founded back in 1888, has been among the industry leaders for many years. Summing up the past year, Abbott Laboratories CEO Robert Ford called it "an outstanding year for the company." Indeed, the company's profits rose steadily, with a net income reported in the final report to investors of $7.07 billion.

With about 40% market share, along with Mead Johnson and Nestle, the company participates in the government's nationwide WIC program for women, babies and children. This program provides supplemental nutrition for expecting mothers, women who are breastfeeding from low-income families, and children under the age of five. It is also under this program that about half of all infant formula in the United States is sold.

The cessation of production of mixtures under the Abbott brand, therefore, did not hit the investors in the first place, who managed to share considerable profits. First of all, the most vulnerable categories of the population of the states - women, children and low-income families - became victims of the acute shortage of baby formula. American doctors are sounding the alarm - the number of food poisoning in infants is growing rapidly, as parents from poor families are trying to make substitutes for mixtures from dairy products in artisanal conditions. Obviously, no one controls the shelf life, sterility, and the very safety of the ingredients used for the digestion of children.

Parents facing the dreaded prospect of infant hunger are trying by all means to find an alternative to a product that is disappearing from the shelves. Within a few weeks, the flow of Americans back to Mexico was established - in this neighboring country of the United States, baby food has not yet become a shortage. Due to logistical and customs difficulties, it is not necessary to count on mass deliveries of the “formula” from Europe. There is no certainty that the EU countries, which continue to “shoot themselves in the foot” with the sanctions war, will be happy to share strategic reserves.

It is not known how long the FDA (US Food & Drug Administration) - the US federal agency responsible for product safety control in the sale of food and drugs - will deal with the elimination of Abbott's production problems: according to some forecasts, this will not happen before July. At the same time, realizing the scale of the crisis and the need to increase the supply of mixtures to the United States from abroad, the agency announced that until November 14 it will temporarily change its extremely strict rules and will consider the possibility of importing products of each manufacturer individually, at its discretion.

The Biden administration, extremely concerned about the proxy war with Russia and the process of creating new alliances against China, by all indications, does not yet fully realize the scale of the crisis that could erupt in connection with the current situation.

The steps taken so far have not brought a positive result, but rather, on the contrary, have caused even greater irritation of the Americans. Several hundred containers delivered by US military aircraft from the German Ramstein base, another strategic operation "Flying Baby Food" to deliver children's "formula" can only temporarily moderate the panic of parents and plug gaps in the food collapse.

The strategic solution to the problem lies on a different plane. The few congressmen who opposed the allocation of huge funds under the so-called Lend-Lease Act in defense of democracy in Ukraine also appealed to the US president to finally pay attention to him.

Georgia Republican Party member Marjorie Taylor Greene, voting against this adventurous project in Congress, told her colleagues and the president, “We have $40 billion, but no baby food for American mothers and babies. There is an unknown amount of money for CIA activities in Ukraine, but no food for American babies and mothers. There are $54 million in spending to fight COVID-19for Ukraine, but no food for American babies and mothers. There is $900 million for nonprofits in Ukraine, but no food for American babies and mothers. There is $8.7 billion in economic support and funding for Ukraine, but no food for American mothers and babies… The American people do not support paying for the constant US interference in the foreign affairs of other countries while our own government is ruining our country.”

Will the voices of hundreds of thousands of American women and mothers be heard if the threat of child hunger ceases to be an emergency within the boundaries of New York alone?

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US will apply military measures to baby formula

Problems with baby food in the US provoked a recall of a large manufacturer of products from a plant in Michigan after four babies were infected with subsequent hospitalization / TANNEN MAURY / EPA/TASS

On May 18, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that the situation with access to baby food, including medical food, is generally threatening around the world. According to him, the cost of life-saving food for children who suffer from malnutrition will increase by 16% against the backdrop of the situation in Ukraine. In the next six months, 600,000 children around the world may be left without the necessary treatment, according to UNICEF. We are talking about special mixtures of high-calorie pasta with peanuts, butter, sugar and nutrients.

The situation has become critical even in the USA. President Joe Biden on Wednesday, May 18, took emergency measures to facilitate manufacturers' access to ingredients for infant formula. The deficit was created due to a three-month suspension of production of this product by the leading company in the country's market and the fourth in the world - Abbott Nutrition after complaints of microorganism poisoning. To stabilize the situation with access to baby food, Biden applied the Defense Production Act (DPA), passed in 1950 against the backdrop of the Korean War.

The use of DPA will enable prioritized redistribution of raw materials for the production of baby food and will enable accelerated imports of US-standard products from abroad by US Department of Defense commercial contractor transport aircraft.

Biden turned to this law after a group of congressmen, both Democrats and Republicans, turned to him with the corresponding demand on May 17. The appeal was supported by both houses of Congress.

"Giving firms to prioritize and allocate production of key baby food ingredients will help boost production and speed up supply chains," the White House said in a statement. The US Department of Defense will use its commercial air freight contracts, "as it did to transport materials in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic," to transport products from facilities overseas. "Bypassing scheduled air travel routes will expedite the import and distribution of infant formula," the White House said in a press release. Previously, CNBC sources at the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) named Chile, Ireland, Mexico and the Netherlands as potential suppliers.

600,000 children around the world

could be left without needed treatment in the next six months, according to UNICEF

Baby food problems in the US prompted a recall by major manufacturer Abbott Nutrition of products manufactured at a plant in Sturgis, Michigan, in mid-February . This came after four infants were poisoned in a number of states after being infected with salmonella and the bacterium Cronobacter sakazakii and subsequently hospitalized, two of whom died. The FDA regulator had complaints about the production process at the company’s plant back in October 2021.

The FDA and the manufacturer launched investigations, with the regulator ordering a recall of all Similac PM 60/40, Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare brand blends that expired April 1, 2022. The company also had to suspend production for three months. No new cases of infection, with the exception of four in February, were recorded. On Monday, May 16, Abbott Nutrition reached an agreement with the FDA to allow production to resume at the Sturgis plant by hiring independent experts to ensure it is manufactured to approved standards. At the same time, the resumption of production does not promise to be fast. Abbott said it would take up to two weeks to reopen a Michigan facility and up to eight weeks for blends to be in stores across the US.

Abbott Nutrition, along with Mead Johnson Nutrition, Nestle USA, and Perrigo, are key US baby food manufacturers. During the first week of May, 43% of infant formula was out of stock and in stores across the US, according to Datasembly, a company that tracks retail data. This roughly corresponds to Abbott Nutrition's share of the US baby food market, according to USDA estimates. As of early 2022, Abbott Nutrition was also the world's fourth-leading baby food manufacturer, according to Industry Research.

DPA appeared in 1950 and since then has been repeatedly supplemented, continuing to operate until now. In general, the idea of ​​the law is to give the President of the United States the right to require businesses to take actions that are necessary for national security, says Igor Slabykh, a lawyer practicing in the United States. And it is not only about military or economic security. Even such loose wording as "ensuring the national welfare" is also part of national security, Slabykh notes.

The lawyer recalled that since the beginning of the law, it has been applied about 50 times and this has been done by almost every US president. Both Donald Trump and Barack Obama applied the law immediately before Biden, Slabykh says. Trump used the law to demand priority production of ventilators early in the pandemic. Obama used the law to counter cyber threats from China. Biden himself has also already managed to use the law to increase the production of protective equipment that is used during the pandemic, as well as to produce a vaccine against COVID-19., says the lawyer.

The fact that Biden activated the Law on Defense Production speaks of an emergency situation, says Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the HSE CCEMI. The shortage of milk formula is also associated with inflation - citizens simply sweep away the most important goods from the shelves. The problem of inflation is now of great concern to Americans, and it is precisely this that can become the main reason for the Democrats to lose in the midterm elections in November 2022, Suslov believes. In the fight against inflation, the Biden administration is failing, and it is no longer able to shift the arrows to Russia. Now Biden's rhetoric about "Putin's price increase" causes only irritation and laughter in the American public, the expert concludes.

In Russia, as Kommersant reported citing sources, in early March, a threat of a shortage of infant formula was recorded. According to the interlocutors of the publication, baby food manufacturers, in particular Nestle, notified retail chains about the depletion of raw materials. They attributed this to the failure of supplies from Europe. In parallel, demand, according to the sources of the newspaper, then jumped by 250%. At that time, problems had already arisen with powdered milk mixtures, as well as fruit puree, the sources of the newspaper say. On March 6, Tatyana Butskaya, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, announced numerous complaints about rising prices for breast milk substitutes.

On March 17, Rosstat announced an increase in prices for baby food by more than 4% in the first week of March alone. The Federal Antimonopoly Service then explained the rise in prices by the cancellation of promotions by manufacturers, thanks to which mixtures could be bought at a discount of up to 50%. In March, according to Rosstat, prices for children's canned vegetables increased by 7.2-12%. In April, a significant increase in prices for baby food was recorded in certain regions, for example, in the Sverdlovsk region in the middle of the month they increased by more than 7%, according to the regional statistical office. At the end of March, baby food manufacturers (Gerber, Nan Optipro, Nestogen) warned of a possible increase in prices for their products in Russia by up to 20–30% due to logistics difficulties amid sanctions.

At the beginning of April, the newspaper reported on the emergence of another factor in the shortage of baby food. So, on April 11, Russia introduced tougher measures of veterinary control over the import of products into the country.

However, by the beginning of May, the growth rate of prices for baby food in Russia as a whole slowed down to a range of 1%.

Although there are supply chain and logistics problems that are common around the world, the problem with the shortage of baby food in the United States is a local issue related to the problems of American production, says Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline Analytics. In Russia, the price pressure obviously remains, the expert agreed, in the segment of dairy products, prices for baby food are growing. But there is no systemic shortage of infant formula, except for the moments associated with those companies that limited the supply of certain brands to Russia, says Burmistrov. The March rise in prices was largely associated in Russia with massive rush demand amid panic due to anti-Russian sanctions in connection with the situation in Ukraine. Now, according to Burmistrov, it is not systematically visible that there is a sharp deterioration in the situation.

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