A National Crisis: The Baby Formula Shortage

Babies Going Without

The nation is dealing with a baby formula shortage. Parents everywhere are panicking because they have not been able to find the necessary formula to feed their children. The shortage began in September of 2021, when there were babies were falling sick after feeding. This continued for months after and was finally investigated by the FDA. A major formula manufacturer ceased production of baby formula due to the investigation. Grocery stores throughout the United States are low on stock and limiting sale to try to give more people chances to purchase the much-needed formula.

 

Image Source: Facebook group MARK LEVIN THE GREAT ONE RULES

As you can expect, there has been outrage surrounding this. Babies are going hungry and there is not much we can do to fix it. Recently, there has been an image floating around the internet claiming that there are warehouses filled with formula at the border being hoarded and only given to immigrants crossing into the United States. 

Obviously, people were angry! How could we keep this from our own country? Where there are literal babies starving? But the reality of the situation is that the picture floating around is not from a hidden hoard at the border, it is actually from a distribution warehouse in California during 2020 filled with PPE. Anyone doing a quick reverse image search can see that these claims are unwarranted.

Don't Believe Everything You See Online

This is exactly how fake news can spread. The photo was taken out of context and spread online rapidly. News sources started reporting about it without looking into the claim, just following the outrage and it took a few days for the truth to be heard. While this is not a doctored image, it is still misinformation being spread by images being portrayed in a certain light.

While I was looking into this story, I found a Facebook page where the original was listed. Despite social media being one of the reasons this spread, it has also been debunking the image. Under the original post, there is a fact check link that explains the actual origin of the photo. There have also been multiple articles written to debunk the rumor and help stop the spread.

 The internet is quick to anger and even more difficult to show the truth. This shortage has been addressed and there are shipments of formula being sent in from other countries while the manufacturing plants start producing again. The formula manufacturer plans to have their plant open and producing again at the end of June.