On hold for 72 minutes and apologetic customer service representatives: Testing

CNN
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The Biden administration is confronting a barrage of questions and criticism for the national baby formula shortage that has anxious and angry parents hopping from store to store in search of baby food.

The White House was unable to point to federal guidance last Thursday on what parents struggling to find formula should do, and recommended that families reach out to their doctors and pediatricians if they were worried about their babies’ health. Then on Friday, it unveiled a new website: HHS.gov/formula.

“We recognize that parents have a lot of questions,” then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. The new website, she said, is aimed at providing “resources and places that parents can go to obtain formula, including contacts with companies, food banks (and) health care providers.”

The webpage lists contact information for a number of baby food manufacturers including Gerber, Reckitt and Abbott – the company at the center of the major recalls dating back to February that prompted the nationwide shortage. The site also points families to resources like local food banks, links to the website for the national nutrition assistance program known as “WIC,” as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics, and offers general safety guidelines. (No, you should not water down formula or try to make it at home.)

A CNN reporter tested out some of those resources to try to determine how helpful they are likely to be for parents who are desperately looking to procure baby formula. The exercise resulted in apologetic customer service representatives, one hold time that lasted well over an hour, and serious challenges in finding baby formula through some of the main suggestions listed on the new HHS website.

We first tried calling the 1-800 consumer hotline for Abbott, the baby formula manufacturer behind brands like Similac and EleCare. Formula made at the manufacturer’s Michigan plant was connected to infant illness and deaths, and it could be many more weeks before the plant is producing formula again.

An automated message stated that information about Abbott’s recall can be found at Similacrecall.com, which doesn’t appear to have too much information other than recall notices dating back to February. When a representative got on the phone, they too, told us that the Abbott website would have “the most up to date information.”

Are they able to answer any questions over the phone? “No, we do not,” the representative said.

Bottom line: the Abbott hotline does not appear to be a sure-fire way for parents to get their hands on baby formula.

Meanwhile, Abbott’s “urgent product request line” – also listed on the HHS website – requires that a pediatrician fax over a form, along with a physician’s order, to Abbott.

Abbott Nutrition said in a statement Friday that all of its other production facilities are running at full capacity. The company said that since…