FDA National Strategy to Further Increase U.S. Infant Formula Market Resiliency

image of baby bottleThe U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recently released an Immediate National Strategy to Increase the Resiliency of the U.S. Infant Formula Market.  The Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022 directed the FDA to work with the Department of Agriculture and other relevant government agencies to develop “a national strategy on infant formula to increase the resiliency of the infant formula supply chain, protect against future contamination, and other potential causes of supply disruptions and shortages, and ensure parents and caregivers have access to infant formula and information they need.” [See Pub. L. No. 117-328, Title III, Subtitle D, § 3401(j), 12/29/2022.]  This legislation responded to the extreme infant formula shortage in early 2022, when supply chains were stressed by the COVID-19 pandemic and exacerbated by Abbott Nutrition’s voluntary recall of infant formula products.  In 2024, with input from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the FDA will issue a long-term national strategy “to improve preparedness against infant formula shortages by outlining methods to improve information-sharing, recommending measures for protecting the integrity of the infant formula supply chain, and preventing contamination.”  For more information, see the FDA Immediate National Strategy to Increase the Resiliency of the U.S. Infant Formula Market page.