WASHINGTON, D.C. – The White House has announced today that more than 20 million bottles of baby formula will soon be flown into the US to help shore up an ongoing nationwide shortage.
Initially, the equivalent of some 16 million 8-ounce bottles of Gerber formula was flown from Mexico to Fort Worth, Texas last Friday and be distributed to retailers, according to an announcement on June 22.
Another 5.5 million bottles of Bubs formula were also on their way to Los Angeles from Melbourne, Australia this week and Philadelphia in early July and more than 1.5 million Nestlé bottles were being shipped to Texas from Germany, several press releases said.
As part of President Joe Biden’s “Operation Fly Formula” program, federal agencies have partnered to pickup government-approved infant formula shipments from international distributors and fly them back to the U.S. where they can be quickly put on shelves.
The shortage of baby formula in the U.S. started due to supply chain problems during the COVID-19 pandemic and was exacerbated by the closure of the nation’s largest formula factory due to a deadly bacteria outbreak.
To read the full story, click here.
