FDA Expands Collaboration With Danone to Boost Baby Formula Supply

Shelves for baby and toddler formula are partially empty, as the quantity a shopper can buy is limited amid continuing shortages, at a grocery store in Medford, Mass., on May 17, 2022. Brian Snyder/Reuters

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday it has expanded its collaboration with Danone’s Nutricia business to boost supplies of specialized medical baby formula bottles to address its shortage among infants with certain allergies or critical health conditions.

The health regulator said about 500,000 additional cans manufactured by Danone would be sent to the United States.

French food group Danone's logo at the company headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison near Paris on Feb. 18, 2021. Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Meanwhile, lawmakers grilled the agency officials on Wednesday over what they saw as a lack of urgency in their response to complaints about possible baby formula contamination at a now shuttered Abbott Laboratories plant that led to severe nationwide shortages.

Abbott controlled 40 percent of the market before the plant closed, Christopher Calamari, president of Abbott U.S. nutrition, told lawmakers, and the plant accounted for 40 percent of Abbott’s product.