Danone and Reckitt ramp up baby food exports to US – stocks mixed

Danone has already doubled its deliveries of baby food for infants with cow’s milk allergy, Magdalena Broseta, head of specialty foods at the French company, told Reuters on Wednesday. “We have increased our supply of Neocate food everywhere.”

The Reckitt group, which supplies about half of the US baby food market, is working “very closely” with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to improve supply and, among other things, speed up the approval of some products made in Mexico, the British company said With. Reckitt also consults with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of a program to support low-income families.

On Tuesday, the FDA relaxed its regulations on baby food imports. This should put around two million cans on empty shelves by early June to alleviate the nationwide shortage. The FDA said it is using its discretion to allow UK company Kendal Nutricare to import certain Kendamil-branded infant formula products that it has evaluated as having no safety concerns.

The supplier Abbott Laboratories recalled dozens of products in February, triggering the food crisis. Abbott had to close its manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Michigan, after infants became infected with a bacterium. According to Danone manager Broseta, the recall affects 38 markets. “Our factory in Europe serves multiple markets. Of course, the numbers and volumes are larger in the US simply because of the size of the market.”

Asked if Danone would launch its Aptamil product in the US, Broseta said the company had discussed a number of options with US authorities. It is easier to increase the supply of products that are already available in the country than to introduce new ones. However, Danone declined to quantify the exact number of cans or tons of product exported. Although the food giant is the world’s second largest manufacturer of baby food after the Swiss group Nestle, it is one of the smaller suppliers in the USA.

On Sunday, a military plane brought the first emergency baby food shipment from Europe to the United States. The US government said there should be a second flight later this week, which is to depart from the US base in Ramstein, Germany.

Danone shares are temporarily up 1.16 percent in Paris at 55.01 euros, while Reckitt shares in London are 0.26 percent lower at 62.14 pounds.

by Richa Naidu

London (Reuters)

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