Biden says he wasn''t alerted to baby formula shortage until April. Companies knew ''from the beginning.'' WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden said Wednesday he wasn''t alerted that the nation faced a looming shortage of baby formula until April, though executives of baby formula manufacturers said they sounded the alarm to retailers two months earlier. "We knew from the very beginning that this would be a very serious event," said Robert Cleveland, senior vice president at Reckitt, which produces baby formula. WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE TO SHORTAGE: Biden says he''s not a ''mind reader'' – but baby formula problems were apparent months ago The disconnect emerged at a virtual White House meeting between Biden and executives of five baby formula companies to discuss the administration''s efforts to ramp up formula production to address the shortage. Triggering the crisis was the safety-related closure of Abbott Nutrition''s formula-making plant in Sturgis, Michigan, on Feb. 17. Abbott supplies 46.2% of the U.S. supply of baby formula, and about one-quarter was historically produced at the Michigan plant. "From the moment that recall was announced, we reached out immediately to retail partners like Target, Walmart to tell them this is what we think will happen," Cleveland told the president.