A cargo plane carrying 55 tons of Nestlé's infant formula, equivalent to 1.65 million 8-ounce baby bottles, landed at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday, July 1. This is the latest flight in a federally arranged airlift to ease the months-long baby formula shortage that has left both the Biden administration and parents in the United States scrambling.
The Kalitta Air flight from the Netherlands was the 37th since President Biden announced on May 18 the Operation Fly Formula program and several other steps to address the ongoing crisis. At the time of the commander-in-chief's announcement, shelves in many stores across the country were bare, and parents were stressed out and desperate. The unexpected scarcity of baby formula was fueling intense criticism in Congress.
According to the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), enough formula to fill 4.3 million baby bottles has arrived in the U.S. from countries where manufacturing the said goods meets American health and safety standards.
Baby formula shortage in the U.S. persists
The nationwide formula shortage persists. Jessica Palaia, administrator of the Facebook page Bergen County Formula Exchange, with more than 1,300 members, told NorthJersey.com that powdered formulas are still in very limited supply in Bergen County.
Palaia, a Pompton Lakes mom of two, added that liquid, ready-to-use formula is easier to find in stores. The hardest to find are specialized formulas for kids with metabolic issues.
The Waldwick school district teacher added that she is still getting more and more people joining the group, with participants scanning the Facebook page for tips and posting screenshots when they find store shelves stocked with formula. Members also give away supplies they do not need.
Palaia said that while the situation is better now than when she founded the group seven weeks ago, it is still not where it needs to be. The formula shortage is partly driven by the closure of one of the largest manufacturing plants in the U.S., owned by Abbott Nutrition in Sturgis, Michigan, after a voluntary recall of some of the company's products.
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Poor American families hit the hardest by the formula shortage
Pre-existing supply chain issues brought upon by the COVID pandemic and the concentration of the formula market among three main companies, resulting in a lack of competition, also contributed to the nationwide shortage.
The shortage has hit poor American families the hardest because Abbott Nutrition was the exclusive formula supplier for the U.S. government's supplemental nutrition program, known as WIC (Women Infants and Children), in more than half the states in the country. Babies with metabolic conditions requiring specialized formulas sometimes have to go to the hospital for feedings because of the shortage.
Store shelves were stocked at lower levels in the middle of June than they had been back in May when the formula crisis sparked a Congressional hearing. According to a report by CNN that cited IRI Research, the out-of-stock rate was 23.5 percent during the week ending June 12 compared with 21 percent in May.
