Biden Says 70,000 Pounds of European Baby Formula en Route to U.S.
President Biden confirmed Sunday that shipments of 70,000 pounds of European baby formula had been dispatched to the United States.
This first foreign-supply shipment under Operation Fly Formula, which the Biden administration launched in an effort to combat the crippling baby formula shortage, will presumably be immediately distributed to stores across the country upon arrival. The program, pitched by the Department of Agriculture, will be overseen by the Department of Defense which will contract commercial aircraft to transport Nestlé S.A. formula from Zurich, Switzerland to Plainfield, Indiana, a White House statement indicated.
“Folks, I’m excited to tell you that the first flight from Operation Fly Formula is loaded up with more than 70,000 pounds of infant formula and about to land in Indiana,” Biden tweeted. “Our team is working around the clock to get safe formula to everyone who needs it.”
Minutes before the president sent the tweet update Sunday, a nearly identical tweet from his account was deleted, as it mistakenly said that 70,000 tons of formula were en route, when in reality it was only 40 tons, Steve Krakauer of the Megyn Kelly Show noted.
On Saturday, Biden signed the Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022, which he said “allows for certain program requirements in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children to be waived so people can more easily access the infant formula that they need.”
Since the baby formula crunch intensified, the Biden administration has faced pressure to lift FDA restrictions on American imports of foreign formulas, so that consumers would be allowed to buy from their markets directly. Instead of opening that avenue, the Biden administration decided to conduct an import mission itself, airlifting to the U.S. “the equivalent of up to 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles of three European formulas- Alfamino® Infant, Alfamino® Junior, and Gerber Good Start® Extensive HA, all of which are hypoallergenic formulas for children with cow’s milk protein allergy.”
These three brands of formula have been targeted because they are in short supply due to the Abbott Sturgis plant closure, which was prompted by contamination concerns, the statement added.
“In addition, President Biden has directed his Administration to take a number of other important actions to ensure there is enough safe infant formula for families, including invoking the Defense Production Act, entering into a consent agreement between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reopen Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis facility, and issuing FDA guidance to allow major formula manufacturers to safely import formula that is not currently being produced for the U.S. market,” it read.
