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An Australian baby formula company says it is working around the clock to manufacture more than a million tins destined for the United States.
Key points:
- Bubs Australia has tripled its production to supply the US with 1.25 million tins of baby formula
- A bacterial infection scare in the US has contributed to a nationwide formula shortage
- US officials have fast-tracked regulatory pathways for international formula companies to help fill the gap
The US has been struggling with a nation-wide shortage of formula exacerbated by a contamination scare involving its largest formula manufacturer, Abbott.
In February, the company ordered a major recall of several products and closed its Michigan plant after reports of bacterial infections in four babies — two of whom died.
Founder and chief executive officer of Bubs Australia Kristy Carr said they had increased shifts at their Dandenong plant to send 1.25 million tins of baby formula to the US.
It is a move that caught the attention of US president Joe Biden who tweeted the news at the weekend.
Ms Carr described the situation in the US as a national emergency, with 70 per cent of all infant formula nationwide out of stock.
She said the Abbott facility also supplied a significant proportion of the US's hypo-allergenic products.
"Babies who can't have dairy can only use those [hypo-allergenic] products once they're weaned to infant formula," Ms Carr said.
But she said their commitment to the US would not impact supply in Australia, because by owning their own processing facility, they were able to quickly scale up their operations.
The facility is now operating almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as opposed to its normal schedule of one shift per day, five days a week.
"We wanted to make sure we didn't disrupt our existing supply into both our domestic marketplace as well as all of our Asian export markets," Ms Carr said.
'Opportunity of a lifetime' created
In response to the baby formula shortage, US officials created a fast-tracked pathway to regulation for international companies to expedite imports to the country.
Ms Carr described it as an "opportunity of a lifetime".
“For the business itself, this is a transformational shift, this is one of the biggest infant formula markets in the world," she said.
"To date, only 2 per cent of the products sold are imported because it's been a closed door to international brands. The regulatory barrier has just been too steep."