The Business Journals learned from a source that two retail establishments in Westchester were among the more than 30 statewide that today were issued warnings by Attorney General Letitia James to stop overcharging for baby formula. The identities of the Westchester retailers and details of their alleged price gouging were not immediately disclosed.
James sent cease-and-desist letters to more than 30 online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores across the state, James ordered these businesses to immediately stop overcharging for baby formula and warned of the legal consequences of price gouging. She said that New York”™s price gouging statute prohibits merchants from charging excessive prices for essential goods or services during abnormal market disruptions.
“It”™s unconscionable that some retailers are taking advantage of the national baby formula shortage while parents are struggling to find food for their children,” James said. “Amid this crisis, families already have enough to worry about and should not have to worry about being price gouged. We are warning all retailers that New York will not tolerate price gouging of baby formula, and I encourage anyone who sees this to continue reporting it to my office.”
As examples of the alleged price gouging, James said that a 19.8 ounce can of Enfamil Nutramigen formula, which typically sells for $44.99, was being sold by an Erie County retailer for $59.99. In the Bronx, a retailer was selling a 32-ounce ready-to-feed bottle of Enfamil NeuroPro for $17.99. It previously had been sold for $11.99.
A nationwide shortage of baby formula has resulted in consumers scrambling to find suitable replacement nutrition for their infants. The U.S. military launched an airlift to bring formula from Europe to the U.S. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reached an agreement with Abbott Nutrition on the reopening of a formula manufacturing plant in Michigan that had been closed due to contamination, resulting in an estimated 20% loss of baby formula supplies.
In the cease-and-desist letters, James told the retailers that wholesalers and distributors also are prohibited from price gouging and she advised the retailers to notify her office if they are being overcharged by the wholesalers or distributors with which they deal.
James encouraged consumers who observe price gouging to contact her office, reporting the specific increased prices along with the dates and places that they saw the increased prices and the type and size of formula being sold. If consumers actually purchased formula at inflated prices, James urged them to provide her office with copies of their sales receipts and photos of the advertised prices.
