In late April 2022, we reported about the supply chain crisis hitting the baby formula market, coupled with a voluntary recall by Abbott Nutrition, “after reports of infants becoming ill from bacterial infections.” As my colleague Kira Davis wrote, some of the infants died:

Fox News reports that baby formula inventory was down a whopping 31 percent at the beginning of April. The scarcity is a combination of supply chain issues and recalls. In February, major formula producer Abbott Nutrition voluntarily recalled their Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare brands after reports of infants becoming ill from bacterial infections after drinking the formula. Two infants died. The company is still struggling to restore production rates to normal levels, and the store shelves seem to be reflecting that harsh reality.

The most affected area of the formula market seems to be the specialty formulas that many parents of infants with medical conditions must use sometimes, even in replacement of breast milk.

Fast-forward to May, when the Biden administration sought to deflect responsibility for the scarity of baby formula through its mismanagement of the supply chain, with Abbott firing back at then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claiming “there were “babies who died as a result of” consuming the company’s products. As my colleague Nick Arama shared, NBC News reported at the time that Abbott was simply relaying facts laid out by the Biden administration’s own Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

Last month, however, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NBC News none of the bacterial strains taken at the Abbott plant matched those collected from the infants, and the agencies haven’t offered an explanation for how the contamination occurred.

For its part, Abbott says its formula “is not likely the source of infection,” though the FDA says its investigation continues.

Then later in May, we learned the administration’s solution to the shortage–invoking the Defense Production Act. As my colleague Mike Miller wrote, that move “ordered the U.S. military to fly in baby formula from Europe. Think that through, for a minute. The Act was put in place in 1950 in response to the Korean War — to allow the United States to fly food to the region in the event of war-caused shortages.”

Miller added that the 70,000 pounds of baby formula the White House boasted it was flying in to solve the (as he calls it) Biden Baby Formula Crisis™ was a pittance, with some suggesting that amount would only cover a few hours.

By early June, new Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was in full spin mode, when the media tried to get actual facts on what Joe Biden knew and when. Jean-Pierre had tried to portray the WH as engaged early on to resolve the problem. But Biden unhelpfully said, during a recording video meeting, that he was made aware of the formula shortage issue “sometime in early April.”

The Abbott Nutrition plant was cleared by the FDA to reopen in June, then had to close again the same month due to a more natural cause: flooding from massive storms that swept through Michigan. At that time, the Biden FDA commissioner “posted a lengthy Twitter thread about the factory’s closure, saying that this is a ‘setback,’ but it’s not a major cause for concern.”

Now, the Biden Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported exclusively on Saturday:

The Justice Department is investigating conduct at the Abbott Laboratories infant-formula plant in Sturgis, Mich., that led to its shutdown last year and worsened a nationwide formula shortage, people familiar with the matter said.

Attorneys with the Justice Department’s consumer-protection branch are conducting the criminal investigation, the people said.

The branch, which has criminal as well as civil authority, was involved last year in a settlement with Abbott that allowed its Sturgis plant to resume operations after Food and Drug Administration inspectors found a potentially deadly bacteria there.

“The DOJ has informed us of its investigation, and we’re cooperating fully,” an Abbott spokesman said.

We’ll keep you posted on any further developments on the investigation.