Fact Check: Is There a Major Shortage of Baby Formula?

Viral claims are based on accurate reporting.

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Viral social media posts claim that 40 percent of baby formula products are out of stock in the United States, forcing some mothers to drive hours away to find the necessary product.

As extreme as these claims sound, they are based on accurate reporting. According to an analysis performed by Axios, during the week of April 24, 40 percent of baby formula inventory was out of stock in the United States. There has been a sharp increase in baby formula shortages over the past year, with only 3 percent of inventory being out of stock at the same time last year. The situation is particularly dire in six states—Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota—where shortages have reached or surpassed 50 percent. There have even been reports of parents driving hours to find the formula they need.

 This shortage is due in part to a recall of Abbott Nutrition products, along with broader supply chain issues, and some stores have taken to limiting how much product shoppers can buy.

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

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Comments (9)
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  1. R. James

    Bare Shelves Biden.

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      Jon McKinney

      Really?

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    Mike B

    OK so the first two sentences are accurate.
    The third is utterly irrelevant. Presumably the reader of the tweet is to "connect the dots" as they like to say and conclude that the baby formula shortage, and by extension all shortages, are caused by Democrats (and Never Trumpers, of course). Wonder how they explain all the panic buying and empty shelves in the spring of '20? I seem to recall that Donald J. Trump WAS president at that time.

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    Seth Higgins

    Would The Dispatch's fact checkers be willing to review Dinesh D'Souza's 2000 Mules film about efforts to steal the 2020 election? It is gaining popularity among some from my hometown and pinging around Facebook.

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    1. Deanjens

      I've wondered whether The Dispatch would decide not to, if it consists of claims that were fact checked 18 months ago; if that were the case, I would like to have them all in one place, anyway.

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      Aylene Wright

      I have seen some references to it on a certain other social media site (the one about to be bought by an electric car and spaceship maker) as well.

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    This comment has been deleted

  5. Michelle C

    So isn’t the answer simply “yes?” I’m not sure why some of your fact checks state that plainly and others beat around the bush in the subtitle.

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      Frank Lee

      I call this biased "but" reporting. As if my political bias sees this as an unfortunate fact, so I need to include a "fact... but" qualifier to soften the blow to my political ego.

      But in general, I appreciate the attempts at honest factual fact checking.

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