Whats Up With The Baby Food Shortage?

[james.hendrickson]

So, I haven't bought baby food in a while...but all of a sudden its like everyone is talking about this shortage of baby food.

I saw this in my Facebook feed today, its a photo of a shelf in a grocery store in the baby section...showing no baby food.

Anybody know what is causing this? I'm just seeing lots of uninformed rants on the web about it.

[Jluke]

Manufacturing site closed down due to contaminant and FDA.

working to bring the site back online to continue manufacturing.

[disneysteve]

It's a major problem. As Jluke said, one big plant in Michigan got shut down and that was on top of the pre-existing supply chain issues already occurring. Supply is off 40-50% which is an outrageous problem because there simply is no alternative and babies have to eat. And before anyone says moms should all just breastfeed, that's not an option in a great many cases. Hopefully it gets corrected soon.

[james.hendrickson]

Manufacturing site closed down due to contaminant and FDA.

working to bring the site back online to continue manufacturing.

Well, I mean what are they going to do? The FDA can't allow contaminated baby food.

[james.hendrickson]

All, I was in my local Kroger, and the baby food shelves were picked over, and the store was limiting the amount you could purchase.




And here is the sign:



Soooo....at this point I'm thinking it is an actual real shortage, not just media hype.

[disneysteve]

the store was limiting the amount you could purchase.
Soooo....at this point I'm thinking it is an actual real shortage, not just media hype.

Why would you possibly think it was "media hype"?

Limiting the purchases is, unfortunately, necessary to cut down on opportunists buying up the supply and reselling it online for a big profit. I'm sure if you search ebay and Marketplace you'll see people selling formula for greatly inflated prices.

[james.hendrickson]

Why would you possibly think it was "media hype"?

Good question. Because of competition from internet based businesses traditional sources of revenue for media organizations (classified advertising revenue, and advertising revenue) have dried up. This has limited the ability of major reputable news organizations to effectively and accurately report the news. As a result, the quality of a lot of media reporting has declined in the last decade.

In other words, Facebook, Craigslist and Google have taken all the money that used to go to Newspapers and local media organizations - meaning the quality of what is reported has gone down a lot.

[disneysteve]

Good question. Because of competition from internet based businesses traditional sources of revenue for media organizations (classified advertising revenue, and advertising revenue) have dried up. This has limited the ability of major reputable news organizations to effectively and accurately report the news. As a result, the quality of a lot of media reporting has declined in the last decade.

In other words, Facebook, Craigslist and Google have taken all the money that used to go to Newspapers and local media organizations - meaning the quality of what is reported has gone down a lot.

So you thought every major news outlet in the country had decided to fabricate a story about there being a shortage of baby formula? Sorry but I can't comprehend how anyone would come up with a conspiracy like that, but I've never understood conspiracy theorists.

[bjl584]

Lots of very odd things are in short supply right now.
Most of them due to some ingredient or material or due to a specific factory shutting down.

I was talking to a store owner over the weekend where I get my propane bottles for our gas grill filled.
He said that there is plenty of propane, but he can't get the bottles.
So he can't take on new customers who need the large bottles for furnaces and such

[disneysteve]

Lots of very odd things are in short supply right now.
Most of them due to some ingredient or material or due to a specific factory shutting down.

I was talking to a store owner over the weekend where I get my propane bottles for our gas grill filled.
He said that there is plenty of propane, but he can't get the bottles.
So he can't take on new customers who need the large bottles for furnaces and such

I've seen numerous reports saying that supply chain issues will persist well into 2023 and maybe even 2024 before things get caught up and back to normal.