A first shipment of baby milk powder arrived in the United States by military cargo plane from Europe on Sunday. The shipment is part of an airlift opened by US President Joe Biden to address his country’s severe shortage of baby milk powder.
The US government is flying the milk powder on commercial aircraft hired by the military. Bypassing regular air freight routes will accelerate the importation and distribution of baby milk powder and serve as an immediate support as manufacturers continue to ramp up production, the White House said.
The first plane with more than 35,000 kilograms of baby food on board landed in the American city of Indianapolis on Sunday. According to the US, that is enough to fill about half a million bottles.
Many parents in the US have been mistaking lately when they shop for baby milk powder. The shortage arose, among other things, after a recall and closure of a factory in Michigan of the company Abbott, the largest supplier of baby milk powder in the US. That happened after reports of bacterial infections in four babies. Global supply problems caused by the corona pandemic subsequently exacerbated the shortage.
Abbott CEO Robert Ford offered in an opinion piece in the Washington Post apologize for the shortfall. He writes that the American food watchdog FDA has found no connection between the sick children and the baby milk powder from the factory in Michigan, but that evidence has been found for the bacteria in the product.
Ford also promised that the factory will reopen in the first week of June. It then takes another six to eight weeks before the milk powder is back in the shops.
