There are increasing reports of widespread consumer shortage for baby formula, many parents are now growing increasingly desperate, and retailers are starting to ration purchases.

The Abbott Nutrition plant in Sturgis, Michigan, shut down in February due to an FDA inspection and several food sanitation concerns. That plant was one of the biggest suppliers of baby formula nationally including Similac, and a major supplier of specialty formulas that are a lifeline for thousands of infants with medical conditions, including metabolic, allergic and gastrointestinal disorders.

Oddly, after several months the plant remains closed.

Politico has this interesting aspect noted, “Neither FDA nor Abbott will answer specific questions about the status of the investigation or what the plan is to reopen the facility, which has further strained the infant formula supply chain. Among other types of infant formula, the plant is a major producer of Similac, the top brand on the market. Parents across the country have posted on social media about near-empty shelves of formula at the retail level.”

In response to the supply shortages several retailers have now begun rationing infant formula to customers:

(Via The Hill) Several major retailers — including Walgreens, CVS, Target and Costco — are rationing the purchase of baby formula amid an ongoing national shortage.

“Due to increased demand and various supplier challenges, infant and toddler formulas are seeing constraint across the country,” a Walgreens spokesperson told NBC News.

“Similar to other retailers, we put into effect purchase limits of three per transaction on all infant and toddler formula to help improve inventory. We continue to work diligently with our supplier partners to best meet customer demands.” (read more)

As noted within several media reports, some people are calling upon the federal government to intervene and use federal resources to either assist with expanded manufacturing capacity, and/or, assist with equitable distribution, ie ‘rationing’.

The Cloward-Piven strategy for radical and fundamental change consists of overwhelming a system, creating a crisis and then using the crisis as an entry for government solution; the ‘never let a crisis go to waste’ part of the program.

There is no doubt the overall food production supply chain was thrown into chaos when COVID mitigation efforts by the government shut down the food supply chain for 60% of national consumption.

When the food away from home venues were closed (restaurants, schools, hotels, cafeterias’, lunchrooms, food trucks and hospitality venues) they represented more than half of the total food supply chain.  Food at home retailers, grocery stores and supermarkets, together with their upstream manufacturing and distribution systems, simply could not keep up with the increased demand.

If you run any system beyond its operational capacity long enough, odd downstream consequences begin to appear.  One of those consequences is always in the food safety and sanitation side of the food manufacturing and processing system.  However, as the food supply boxcar effect begins to stabilize and get back to normal, now is not the time for another round of government intervention.

Sometimes there is little distinction in outcome between an actual scarcity and the appearance of scarcity when hyped by fear and panic.  Be careful of hyped fear and panic because it can be purposeful for the interests of the Cloward-Piven types.