Despite his agency shutting down the nation’s largest baby formula factory for months, the head of the Food and Drug Administration on Monday blamed a “distribution problem” for empty store shelves across the US, as lawmakers fumed about a lackluster federal response to the crisis.

“I don’t want this to sound in any way like we’re not concerned about the parents that are struggling to find formula for their children,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said on CNN. “That’s definitely happening in parts of the country. But you know, the number of stock on shelves is about 90% before … the recall, and it dropped to about 79% at its lowest, and we’re on the way back up now.”

Califf insisted that “there is formula out there” and blamed the shortages on a February recall by supplier Abbott Nutrition of name-brand formulas produced at its plant in Sturgis, Mich.

The Biden administration is facing criticism for its response to the crisis — with Biden drawing heat for telling reporters Friday that authorities could only have dealt with the situation more effectively “if we’d been better mind-readers, I guess.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday side-stepped Biden’s mind-reading remark when asked about it by CNN correspondent MJ Lee.

“This doesn’t seem like a situation that would have required mind reading,” Lee told Jean-Pierre at the press secretary’s first briefing in her new job.

“As you know, the recalls date back to February,” Lee continued. “I believe Politico reported months ago that the FDA was first warned about the suspected bacteria issue as early as September. Are there any specific actions that this administration took — meetings, phone calls, briefings — in February or any earlier to begin addressing this potential shortage?” FULL STORY HERE