After the failure of a factory of the largest manufacturer of baby milk formula in the USA, help comes from the top down for desperate parents – including with planes from the Department of Defense.
Ashley Maddox feeds her five-month-old son Cole baby food she bought through a Facebook group of moms. In the USA, shortages of milk powder are currently causing difficulties for families.
(dpa)
Due to dramatic bottlenecks in baby formula in the USA, the government is resorting to unusual means to provide families with milk powder. US President Joe Biden has decided to use the Defense Production Act, originally introduced for wartime, to boost the production of baby food, the White House announced on Wednesday evening (local time). Specifically, Biden ordered manufacturers of infant formula to be given the necessary ingredients by suppliers in preference to other customers.
The law allows the US President to intervene in the private sector in the interest of national security. In the corona pandemic, the regulation was last used to oblige companies to increase the production of medical devices and protective masks.
In order to expedite the import of baby milk powder, Biden has now also instructed that Department of Defense commercial aircraft could be used to bring infant formula from abroad to the United States, it said. As at the beginning of the corona pandemic, the Pentagon will use its contracts with commercial air freight companies to transport products from foreign production sites. Bypassing the regular air freight routes saves a lot of time.
The background to the shortage is the failure of a factory of the largest manufacturer of infant formula in the USA, Abbott. The producer had recalled several product lines after four infants became ill and two died, possibly due to bacterial contamination. Production at one of the company’s plants in the state of Michigan has been completely stopped for the time being.
The US government only announced on Monday that it would allow more imports of baby milk powder because of the bottlenecks. According to its own statements, the American drug agency FDA also agreed with Abbott on various precautions in order to reopen the affected factory. However, the company said it would take several weeks before production there could start again and baby milk formula could be delivered to retailers.