ABBOTT Nutrition has once again shut down a baby formula plant, this time due to heavy rains and flooding, less than two weeks after it reopened to try and mitigate a crippling shortage in the United States.

The facility in Sturgis, Michigan, resumed production on June 4, only to close down again so the company can assess rain damage earlier this week.

Severe thunderstorms that battered south-western Michigan on Monday resulted in “high winds, hail, power outages and flood damage”, as well as “flooding in parts of the city, including areas of our plant”, said Abbott in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday.

“As a result, Abbott has stopped production of its EleCare specialty formula that was underway to assess damage caused by the storm, and clean and re-sanitise the plant.

“This will likely delay production and distribution of new product for a few weeks.”

The plant, a major producer of formula, shut down in February and issued a product recall after the death of two babies raised concerns over contamination.

That worsened to a widespread formula shortage caused by supply issues, particularly concerning to parents of infants with allergies or certain metabolic conditions, who desperately scoured stores and online sources for the specialised formulas.

The crisis prompted US President Joe Biden to bring in formula from Europe on commercial planes contracted by the US military last month. He invoked the Defence Production Act to give baby formula manufacturers first priority in supplies.

Abbott, which controls about 40% of the US baby food market, earlier said its hypoallergenic EleCare formula should be back on store shelves around June 20.

In the statement on Wednesday, the manufacturer assured that it has “ample existing supply” of EleCare and most of its other specialty formulas to meet demand until production can continue.

The formula shortage comes at a time when soaring inflation and supply-chain delays fanned a growing sense of unease among many American families, and Biden critics have seized on the situation to question the competence of his administration. – AFP, June 17, 2022.