Biden defends his handling of spiraling baby formula crisis WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden defended his handling of a spiraling baby formula supply crisis Wednesday, insisting at a meeting with infant food executives that the White House is doing all it can. A product recall and shutdown of a major plant by industry leader Abbott in February triggered a dramatic and ongoing reduction in availability of formula for parents across the country. Increasingly, the issue is also turning into a political maelstrom for Biden, with critics questioning his command of the crisis. Biden told reporters Wednesday that he was only informed about the looming problem in early April and that he’d pulled all the levers of government to resolve shortages ever since. “I don’t think anyone anticipated the impact of the shutdown of one facility,” Biden said at a meeting with the executives from five companies helping to take up the slack caused by Abbott’s problems. “Once we learned the extent of it and how broad it was, it kicked everything into gear,” Biden said.