The Baby Formula

[Boomhauer]

I'm still suspicious one factory shutdown could cause this much of a disruption.
How many BF factories are there in the US? It would kind of scare me if we're relying on only a handful for the whole country. Would make it an easy mark for someone wanting to mess with the US. A couple of bombs or even just contaminants here and there and you could have a major disruption and panic like what we're seeing right now.

Welcome to the joy of just in time and lean manufacturing. It’s great until it isn’t and the last couple of years are an excellent demonstration of why.

[MechAg94]

Welcome to the joy of just in time and lean manufacturing. It’s great until it isn’t and the last couple of years are an excellent demonstration of why.

I would be curious how much of that is driven by inventory taxes and other tax structures.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was some old New Deal policy from the 30's.  I recall one complaint about the Great Depression was a lot of companies had big inventories that weren't selling. 

[WLJ]

If only there was a cheap, safe, nutritious, all natural, environmentally friendly way of feeding babies.
But I'm not a biologist

[Ben]

If only there was a cheap, safe, nutritious, all natural, environmentally friendly way of feeding babies.
But I'm not a biologist

The same women who scream for nursing stations every twenty feet in every building in America would also scream at you for suggesting that they breast feed (medical and other issues that prevent breast feeding excluded).

[MillCreek]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/generic-drugs-pharmaceutical-companies-60-minutes-2022-05-22/

A look at some reasons for drug shortages.

[MechAg94]

The same women who scream for nursing stations every twenty feet in every building in America would also scream at you for suggesting that they breast feed (medical and other issues that prevent breast feeding excluded).

There are women who can't breast feed for one reason or another, but those women aren't the reason for the shortage.

[cordex]

Thankfully we've never had to buy formula, but I'm well aware that there are plenty of women for whom even if they could once have done so will no longer have that option.  It would be terrifying to be a family in that position.

[Northwoods]

There a huge number of women who could have breast fed but simply didn’t want to.  Had they done so the formula shortage wouldn’t affect them.  However once her milk dries up it’s not like she can change her mind and start doing it now. 

[Northwoods]

Thankfully we've never had to buy formula, but I'm well aware that there are plenty of women for whom even if they could once have done so will no longer have that option.  It would be terrifying to be a family in that position.

We had to get some formula for our 3rd.  We didn’t know my wife was pregnant again until her milk supply stopped.  Kid #3 was only 7-8 months old or so at the time and normally would have continued nursing for at least another 3-5 months.

[zahc]

Welcome to the joy of just in time and lean manufacturing. It’s great until it isn’t and the last couple of years are an excellent demonstration of why.

Lean, no. Consolidation, yes. Blame the right thing.

[Jim147]

They never found the bacteria at that plant that made the kids sick. They found a similar one in another in a non-processing part of the plant.

[Ben]

There are women who can't breast feed for one reason or another, but those women aren't the reason for the shortage.

Hence the qualifier in my post. 

I was aiming at the feminists who scream at the patriarchy for making breastfeeding difficult when in fact many of those same women have no intention of breastfeeding, or even having kids.

[WLJ]

That didn't last long
11 days after reopening the factory gets flooded. Will be shutdown a few weeks.

The Abbott Laboratories plant in Michigan, which was at the center of the nation's baby formula crisis, has stopped production again.

Baby formula production halted at Abbott's Michigan plant due to flooding after severe storms
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/abbott-baby-formula-production-halted-michigan-plant-storms

[MechAg94]

FDA Finally Admits It Caused the Baby Formula Shortage
https://reason.com/2022/07/07/fda-finally-admits-it-caused-the-baby-formula-shortage/

More specifically, it's the FDA's unnecessary and protectionist rules that effectively ban foreign-made baby formula from being imported into the United States. On Wednesday, the agency announced plans to tweak those rules so foreign formula manufacturers can permanently import their goods into the U.S., giving American consumers greater choice in the marketplace and ensuring more robust supply chains.

[HankB]

More specifically, it's the FDA's unnecessary and protectionist rules that effectively ban foreign-made baby formula from being imported into the United States. On Wednesday, the agency announced plans to tweak those rules so foreign formula manufacturers can permanently import their goods into the U.S., giving American consumers greater choice in the marketplace and ensuring more robust supply chains.

Wonder if the unsaid part of the plan is to outsource production to China so we won't have to worry about domestic supply chain vulnerability any more. (Has any Chinese baby formula maker put Hunter Biden on its board?)

[kgbsquirrel]

Wonder if the unsaid part of the plan is to outsource production to China so we won't have to worry about domestic supply chain vulnerability any more. (Has any Chinese baby formula maker put Hunter Biden on its board?)

Last time we let them do that they laced it with melamine.

[Hawkmoon]

Last time we let them do that they laced it with melamine.

And lead, if I remember correctly.

[WLJ]

So how does Putin fit in all of this?

[WLJ]

More baby formula fun

Reckitt announces recall of 145,000 cans of baby formula for contamination of the same deadly bacteria that caused Abbott to shut down its Michigan factory
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11773205/Reckitt-announces-recall-baby-formula-contamination-deadly-bacteria.html