Families nationwide are scrambling to find baby formula amid a widespread shortage. Rural families are likely having an even harder time since there are fewer local places to buy formula, and because families who use federal assistance can only buy certain formulas. It's even more difficult to find certain medically necessary specialty formulas. Here's what you—and your readers—need to know:

What happened: In February the Food and Drug Administration ordered Abbott Nutrition, the nation's leading formula maker, to shut down its plant in Sturgis, Michigan, after four infants were hospitalized with bacterial infections from contaminated formula and two of them died. The FDA issued a voluntary recall on three products (Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare) and warned customers not to use certain specialty formulas produced at the facility, but the warning didn't get much public attention, so parents didn't know to stock up. Formula was already low in stock since at least December because of inflation, supply-chain shortages and product recalls.

How bad is it? Formula stockpiles in stores are 43 percent lower than normal, up from 30-40% in April, says retail data tracker Datasembly. Only about a quarter of children are exclusively breast-fed up to the age of six months, so most parents and caregivers depend at least partially on formula.

What the government is doing now: The FDA is expediting and streamlining some of its approval processes to speed up production. The Biden administration and lawmakers from both parties are also urging the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to keep an eye out for price-gouging and increase formula imports to increase the domestic supply. The House Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing this week before introducing an emergency supplemental funding bill to help address the shortage.
What the administration is not doing: Some right-wing politicians and pundits have blamed the Biden administration for the shortage, but no single politician or administration is causing the problem. Biden has also been accused of stockpiling baby formula for undocumented immigrants being detained at the border while American families go without. In fact, the Biden administration is following the law in shipping a limited supply of formula to infants at the border, as the Trump administration did.

Read the full article about baby formula in rural communities by Heather Chapman at The Rural Blog.