Lawmakers grill FDA commissioner over baby formula shortage

By MATTHEW PERRONE
AP Health Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration’s commissioner is facing congressional lawmakers for the first time over the national shortage of baby formula. Members of a House Appropriations subcommittee opened Thursday’s hearing by asking FDA Commissioner Robert Califf why the FDA didn’t step in when there were signs of problems at Abbott Nutrition’s baby formula plant in Michigan last fall before it was closed. The shortage has rattled parents in many parts of the U.S. and become another political headwind for President Joe Biden, who’s invoked the Defense Production Act to speed domestic manufacturing. Califf asked lawmakers for $76 million in new funding for food safety and nutrition.