President Biden Announces Tenth Operation Fly Formula Mission
Biden Administration will facilitate trucking shipment of approximately 16 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents of Gerber® Good Start® Gentle infant formula this weekend
Today, President Biden is announcing that his Administration is sourcing trucking, facilitated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for Operation Fly Formula to transport Gerber infant formula from Mexico to Fort Worth, Texas starting on June 24. This delivery will include approximately 1 million pounds of Gerber Good Start Gentle infant formula, the equivalent of approximately 16 million 8-ounce bottles. The product will be available through retail channels.
In May, 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 plans to export approximately 42 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 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 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. By June 26, Operation Fly Formula flights will have completed 32 flights and imported almost 19 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents of 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 and Abbott Nutrition to reopen the company’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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