Bubs Australia to ship at least 1.25 million baby formula cans to United States

[May 28, 2022]  (Reuters) -Bubs Australia Ltd plans to ship at least 1.25 million cans of its baby formula to the United States to help ease a nationwide shortage, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday. 

Empty shelves show a shortage of baby formula at a CVS store in San Antonio, Texas, U.S. May 10, 2022. REUTERS/Kaylee Greenlee Beal/File Photo

Some of it is currently in stock for transport and more will be produced by the Australian company in the coming weeks and months, according to the FDA.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allowed global farm commodities trader Cargill Inc to provide raw materials needed to maximize the production of infant formula by invoking the Defence Production Act.

Cargill supplies dozens of products to infant formula makers and the move will allow the manufacturers to produce at full capacity to address the "urgent marketplace shortages", the department said in a statement.

The Biden administration had earlier decided to urgently meet the nationwide shortage by importing emergency supplies from Europe, the first of which arrived earlier this week.

Bubs' supply is another import allowed by the FDA as part of its regulatory flexibility started earlier this month to mitigate one of the biggest baby formula shortages in recent history.

The shortage is partly due to Abbott Laboratories' manufacturing plant in Michigan recalling some products including Similac in February.

Abbott said on Tuesday it plans to restart production at the facility on June 4, adding it would prioritize making EleCare and supplying it on or about June 20.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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