As the Health and Human Services Inspector General reportedly undertakes an investigation into the Food and Drug Administration’s response to the baby food shortage that struck the US in May 2022, the senior FDA official responsible for Food Policy and Response announced his resignation, ABC News reports.
Appointed to the post in December 2018, Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response Frank Yiannas announced his departure would be effective at the end of February. In his position, Yiannas should have led a response to the emerging shortage of powdered baby formula, which was accelerated after Abbott Labs shut down a Michigan factory that was a major manufacturer of formula. Instead, as Yiannas testified before Congress that he was ignorant of the growing problem and cut out of the loop of information despite the FDA staff releasing an internal report about the problems facing the Sturgis, Michigan plant in October 2021.
“Yeah, I’m not sure why the report wasn’t shared with me and how it didn’t get escalated,” Yiannas, Walmart’s VP for Food Safety prior to joining the Trump Administration, said in a May Congressional hearing. “As you’ve heard the commissioner state, I know there’s going to be a review, and we’re going to try to get to the bottom of it.”
Even in his letter of resignation, Yiannas refused even to acknowledge an iota of responsibility for failing to fulfill his duty to the American people: “It was also in February of 2022 that I first learned of the infant formula incidents that had been reported to various parts of the FDA several months before, so I postponed this decision and dedicated myself and my staff to doing all we could to help tackle this crisis. With the Abbott facility now reopened, infant formula availability more prevalent, and – very importantly – the necessary monitoring, data systems, and insights now in place through the 21 Forward platform to help address the current and any future infant formula supply chain challenges, I believe the time is right for me to leave and vacate this position.”