President Biden Announces Fifth Operation Fly Formula Mission

Biden Administration will facilitate air shipment of approximately 1.6 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents of Nestlé NAN SupremePro Stage 1 infant formula this week

Today, President Biden is announcing that his Administration is sourcing a flight, facilitated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for Operation Fly Formula to transport Nestlé infant formulas from Cologne, Germany to Fort Worth, Texas on June 9. This delivery will include 110,000 pounds of Nestlé NAN SupremePro Stage 1 infant formula, approximately 1.6 million 8-ounce bottles. The product will be available across the country through Nestlé/Gerber distribution channels, and additional deliveries of Nestlé formula will be announced in the coming days.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the agency is exercising enforcement discretion so that Nestlé can export additional infant formula into the U.S. Nestlé will import both standard and specialty infant formulas to the U.S. including Nestlé NAN SupremePro 1, Nestlé NAN SupremePro 2, Nestlé Health Science Alfamino/Alfamino, Jr., Gerber® Good Start® Gentle and Gerber Good Start® Extensive HA®. Nestle plans to export approximately 41 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents into the U.S. market.

President Biden launched Operation Fly Formula to speed up the import of infant formula and start getting more formula to stores as soon as possible. Under Operation Fly Formula, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the General Services Administration (GSA), and the Department of Defense (DOD) are partnering to pick up overseas infant formula that meets U.S. health and safety standards, so it can get to store shelves faster. Operation Fly Formula has shipped 1.5 million bottle equivalents of Nestle infant formula, and is sourcing flights for an additional 8.3 million bottle equivalents of Bubs Australia and Kendamil infant formula.

In addition, the Biden Administration has taken a number of other important actions to ensure there is enough safe infant formula for families, including invoking the Defense Production Act, entering into a consent agreement between the FDA to reopen Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis facility, and issuing FDA guidance so that major formula manufacturers can safely import formula that is not currently being produced for the U.S. market. Details of our actions can be found at whitehouse.gov/formula.

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