The Baby Formula Crisis Is Still Happening
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2022
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The drastic shortage of infant formula this spring revealed how flaws in food regulation and the supply chain can threaten this most vulnerable part of our population—and everyone else.
Guest: Helena Bottemiller Evich, founder of Food Fix, a publication about food policy.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's something so romantic about winter and I don't know whether that's just because |
| 0:05.4 | I'm a bit for homebody and I love a 5. |
| 0:08.0 | But I think it's just the holiday period, it's just for me, it's the most romantic period. |
| 0:14.2 | And I think anyone who's listened to my records will know that I'm quite a big fan of romance. |
| 0:18.8 | Join every sip with Red Carp's Now Back at Starbucks. |
| 0:32.4 | So Helena, are you popular over at the FDA? |
| 0:36.4 | Oh, that's a tough question. |
| 0:38.6 | Um, I thought you were gonna laugh. |
| 0:41.6 | Um, it's a mix, I think it's mixed. |
| 0:47.7 | I do sometimes joke that I won't be allowed back in there, back in the building. |
| 0:53.0 | Uh, we'll see. |
| 0:56.1 | They still take my calls. |
| 0:58.8 | So. |
| 1:02.0 | Helena Bonemiller-Evitch writes about food policy for a digital publication she founded called |
| 1:07.1 | Food Fix. |
| 1:08.1 | So it makes sense that she's got the Food and Drug Administration on Speed Dial. |
| 1:13.6 | And now inside the agency she says, there's this joke that the F in FDA is silent. |
| 1:22.0 | Well, you know, FDA is so big in that it covers like something like 20% of consumer spending, |
| 1:30.8 | right? |
| 1:31.8 | So it's drugs, it's medical devices, it's microwaves and cosmetics. |
| 1:36.5 | Food is a much lower priority issue at FDA. |
| 1:40.3 | And that's just, that's just the truth of the matter. |
... |
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