The U.S. military will begin delivering shipments of baby formula to Indiana this weekend to address the nationwide shortage that has left parents scrambling.
The United States will fly 132 pallets of baby formula from Germany to Indianapolis just one day after President Joe Biden signed legislation that provides emergency funding to the Food and Drug Administration. The delivery is the first of two shipments of Operation Fly Formula, which will transport 246 pallets of baby formula, enough to fill 1.5 million eight-ounce bottles, according to the White House.
The worsening shortage of baby formula, the primary source of nutrition for many infants, particularly those who require specialty mixtures due to allergies or gastrointestinal conditions, has led to a 40% decrease in inventory nationwide, according to Datasembly. One cause was a February recall of powdered formulas manufactured at Abbott Nutrition’s manufacturing plant in Sturgis, Michigan, where operations have paused. The FDA issued a recall after receiving reports of infections in four babies caused by Cronobacter sakazakii bacteria that were linked to the manufacturer.The White House has vowed to address the crisis, with Biden invoking the Defense Production Act earlier this week to speed up production and import formula from outside the U.S.
Meanwhile, Abbott is ramping up production at its facility in Columbus, Ohio, to produce Ready-to-Feed liquid formula, which was not affected by the February recall. The company has also upped its output at one of its facilities in Ireland to ship products to the U.S.
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