For the last four months, the collapse of America’s baby formula production and distribution has terrified mothers across the country. “It is easier for me to get a pound of weed than a pound of formula,” a young father told me a few days ago.
Why is this crisis happening? The baby formula market is highly consolidated, with Abbott Labs, the firm at the center of the crisis, controlling 43% of the market. The Food and Drug Administration shut down one of Abbott’s major plants after a whistleblower alleged that the plant was dangerously unsanitary and falsifying records to cover it up.
