A shipment of infant formula intended to fill a nationwide shortage arrived in the United States from Europe on Sunday, and a second flight would deliver additional supplies in the coming days, the Biden administration said.
The shipment, equivalent to about 500,000 8-ounce bottles, contained a hypoallergenic formula for children with cow’s milk protein allergies, the White House said in a statement. It provides enough formula to care for 9,000 babies and 18,000 toddlers for a week, said Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, in televised comments at the Indianapolis airport, where the shipment arrived on a military plane from Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“This shipment of bottle-feeding serves a critical medical purpose and will help infants with specific nutritional needs who require specialized bottle-feeding,” Mr. Vilsack said on Twitter.
A second shipment, expected to arrive this week, would push the stock of formula to the equivalent of 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles of three formulas, which would later be distributed from a Nestlé facility in Pennsylvania.
The ramifications of the Sturgis factory shutdown are widespread, with stores restricting the purchase of formula and parents desperate for supplies or trying to make formula at home, discouraging pediatricians. The shortage has also been exacerbated by supply chain problems and labor shortages related to the pandemic.
The White House statement said the formula pallets that arrived on Sunday were “prioritised because they serve a critical medical purpose” and were in short supply due to the shutdown of the Sturgis plant.
In another step to address the acute shortages, the FDA announced last week that it would relax some of its regulations to encourage new suppliers to provide formulas. The United States normally produces about 98 percent of the formula it consumes, with imports coming mainly from Mexico, Ireland and the Netherlands.
