Goat’s milk and other baby substitutes come to the United States: NPR

Workers unload FedEx cargo carrying 100,000 pounds of infant formula at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., On Wednesday.

Jose Luis Magana / AP

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Jose Luis Magana / AP

Workers unload FedEx cargo carrying 100,000 pounds of infant formula at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., On Wednesday.

Jose Luis Magana / AP

The United States will distribute an additional 1.25 million cans of infant formula in an effort to replenish the country’s large supply in the coming weeks, says the Food and Drug Administration.

This inventory will bring the total imported supply of baby replacement product to the equivalent of 30 million 8-ounce bottles, since the Biden administration began its efforts to alleviate the national shortage.

During the first week of May, the average sold-out rate for baby replacements at dealers across the country was 43%, according to data from Datasembly.

The Australian company Bubs will send the equivalent of 27.5 million 8-ounce bottles with various breast milk substitutes, including “easily digestible” goat’s milk, organic grass-fed cow’s milk and specialized mixtures, the FDA announced on Friday. Some of the promised supply is ready for transport, and some product will be made in the coming weeks and months.

“We continue to work around the clock with our government partners and the industry to ensure that adequate infant formula is available where and when parents and carers need it,” said FDA Commissioner Robert Califf. “We will not rest until our shelves are full of safe and nutritious infant formula.”

The Australian product is in addition to the formula supply of 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles that have already landed in the US this week. This offer, consisting of Nestlé Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior, was prioritized because it is critical for children with cow’s milk protein allergy, the White House said.

Of this product, the bulk of the 132 pallets that landed in Indianapolis this past Sunday will be sent to hospitals and home health personnel, Nestlé said.

That shipment will cover 15% of the country’s formula needs, Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CNN. The state of the nation.

People should see “more formula in stores starting as early as this week,” he said Sunday.

The 114 pallets that arrived in Allentown, Pa., On Wednesday, go to hospitals, retailers and WIC (Women, Infants and Children) programs that provide nutritional food to women and low-income children, already this weekend.

The FDA said it enforces safety requirements for importing products into the country, which includes a review of nutrition and safety information, including microbiological testing, labeling, and details of the plant’s production and inspection history.

Imports are part of the Biden administration’s program to speed up the supply of infant formula from abroad to stores as the US market faces a shortage.

The scarcity problem has been increasing for some time, but it reached a breaking point when one of the largest formula producers, Abbott Nutrition, closed its plant in Michigan in February after the FDA discovered the presence of deadly bacteria near production lines. Several babies became ill and two died after drinking the company’s formula. FDA Commissioner Califf testified on Wednesday that the Abbott plant is “several weeks away” from reopening.