Danone Imports of Baby Formula Into United States Spiked Following Shortages

Baby formula is offered for sale at a grocery store in Chicago, Ill., on May 16, 2022. Baby formula has been in short supply in many stores across the country. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

In view of current shortages, French multinational food product corporation Danone has started significantly increasing its imports of infant formula from Europe to the United States, according to an analysis by Reuters.

Ocean Audit, a U.S. customs data and shipping consultancy, examined ocean cargo data for the media company and found that Danone shipped baby formula from the UK and Netherlands through its Nutricia North America division following the Abbott Laboratories recall that led to the nationwide shortages.

Ocean Audit CEO Steve Ferreira told Reuters that the company’s Nutricia division increased ocean imports into North America three-fold, with over 90 percent coming into the United States.

Compared to the 770,000 cans of infant formula imported by Danone Nutricia into the continent in 2021 from Jan. 1 to May 1, the number spiked to more than 2.4 million cans for the same period this year. Of these, 93 percent came to U.S. ports on the East Coast.

“We understand how important it is for families to access these specialized formulas which is why our absolute priority has been to increase production and supply of these medical formulas to serve the most vulnerable babies since the shortages arose in February,” a Danone spokesperson said.

Following Nestle, Danone is the world’s biggest baby formula manufacturer. Illinois-based Abbott comes in fourth but is the largest in the United States.

On Thursday, the White House had announced 246 pallets of Nestle baby formula air-lifted from Europe. As part of Operation Fly Formula, priority shipments of three hypoallergenic formulas for children with cow’s milk protein allergy will be imported in the coming days.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has contracted air transportation to import “the equivalent of up to 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles” of Nestle formulas to make up for the present shortages.

“These formulas have been prioritized because they serve a critical medical purpose and are in short supply in the United States because of the Abbott Sturgis plant closure,” the May 19 White House release stated.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had shut down the Abbott plant in Sturgis, Michigan following consumer complaints. Four infants got sick and two died after allegedly consuming products manufactured in the plant.

Abbott has denied that their formula was the reason for the illnesses.

FDA officials announced on May 16 that an agreement has been reached with Abbott to resume operations at the Sturgis plant. Meanwhile, the company has flown in millions of baby formula cans from Ireland to help deal with shortages.