President Biden Announces Twenty-Fifth Operation Fly Formula Mission

Biden Administration will facilitate air shipment of approximately 2,500,000 8-ounce bottle equivalents of Nutricia/Danone Aptamil Gold Plus formula on September 23

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 Nutricia/Danone Aptamil Gold Plus formula from New Zealand to Chicago, IL via a flight on September 23. This delivery will include in total approximately 167,000 pounds of Nutricia/Danone formula, the equivalent of approximately 2,500,000 8-ounce bottles. The products will be distributed primarily to retailers.

Beginning in May, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the agency is exercising enforcement discretion so that Danone can export additional infant formula, including Neocate Infant DHA/ARA and Aptamil First Infant Milk Stage 1. Danone plans to export approximately 39 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents into the U.S. market, which also includes their Aptamil baby formula from Ireland and New Zealand.

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, hospitals, and home health care providers faster. By September 23, Operation Fly Formula will have transported more than 92 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents to the U.S.

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.

###