President Biden Announces Twenty-Sixth Operation Fly Formula Mission

Biden Administration facilitated air shipment of approximately 1.4 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents of Nestlé Gerber Good Start Extensive HA formula on September 29.

Today, President Biden is announcing that his Administration sourced a flight, facilitated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for Operation Fly Formula to transport Nestlé Gerber Good Start Extensive HA formula from Netherlands to Newark, NJ via a flight on September 29. This delivery included in total approximately 101,000 pounds of Nestlé formula, the equivalent of approximately 1.4 million 8-ounce bottles. The products are intended for healthcare purposes.

Beginning 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 will import both standard and specialty infant formulas including Nestlé NAN SupremePro 1 and NAN SupremePro 2, Nestlé NAN EXPERTpro SensiPro, Nestlé Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior, Vitaflo PKU start, Gerber Good Start Gentle and Gerber Good Start Extensive HA, and Nestlé SMA Nutrition Althéra. Over time Nestlé plans to bring approximately more than 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, hospitals, and home health care providers faster. By September 29, Operation Fly Formula will have transported more than 97.9 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.

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