The White House has promised to take action to address the acute shortage of infant formula in the United States, AFP reported.

According to the specialized site Datasembly, at the end of last week the level of depletion of stocks in adapted milk reached 43%.

Boom in US producer prices in April

The US executive is considering, among other things, increasing imports.

The United States produces 98% of the formula it consumes.

Federal authorities are working with states to ease the administrative burden for disadvantaged families who buy infant milk with food stamps.

The White House also said it had asked the federal competition authority to investigate abuses related to the shortage, including reselling infant formula online at much higher than usual prices.

On February 17, after the deaths of two babies, Abbott halted production and withdrew several formulas from the chain, including Similak, used by millions of American families.

The investigation showed that the milk in question had nothing to do with the tragedy, but production has not yet resumed.

This exacerbates the shortage already caused by wider supply chain problems and labor shortages.