Food and Drug Administration commissioner Robert M. Califf told lawmakers Thursday that his agency has been working “tirelessly” to increase supplies of baby formula nationally and that he expects an Abbott Nutrition plant in Michigan that made much of the country’s formula to be operating again within two weeks.

But Califf, speaking before a House appropriations subcommittee, called the food supply fragile and urged Congress to authorize more funding to expand staffing and inspections to stave off additional supply chain crises. “We could be one natural disaster or cyberattack from being here again,” he said.

The FDA has been criticized for moving too slowly to investigate a whistleblower complaint last year at the Abbott facility, which was inspected and shuttered only this year after two infants were sickened and two infants died after consuming contaminated formula. Abbott has said there isn’t clear evidence the contamination came from the factory.

“Why did the FDA not spring into action?,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said. “How may illnesses and deaths were due to the FDA’s slow response? This makes me question which side FDA is on, on the side of Abbott or the American public?”... Read More: Washington Post