Amid critical shortage in US, tonnes of 'life-savers' baby formula brought in by military

Frantic mothers in the United States have taken a sigh of relief after a military cargo plane carrying landed in Indianapolis on Sunday (May 22) with the first shipment of infant formula from Europe to tackle the worrying shortage in the country. 

The White House said that the cargo plane took off from the US airbase at Ramstein, Germany with more than 70,000 pounds of powdered formula. 

On Sunday (May 22), US President Joe Biden tweeted that a second shipment was also secured as more formula was on its way to the United States. "We have secured a second flight to transport Nestle specialty infant formula to Pennsylvania," he posted. 

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A few days ago, Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to give baby formula manufacturers priority in supplies. The shortage was so critical that military-contracted planes were ordered to deliver the baby formula to the US. 

As the shipment arrived in the country, Megan Gendig, mother of a 7-month-old infant with dairy allergy said as quoted by Reuters that "they're life-savers to so many children and so many parents". 

Gendig added, "I'm sure that… babies are going to be able to go sleep comfortably tonight because their parents are going to know that they actually have food to be able to provide to them for the next few days." 

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The baby formula shortage crisis emerged due to supply chain issues and a massive recall on February 17. 

"It is a terrifying feeling to not know where the next meal is going to come from. I'm able to provide breastmilk for her sometimes, which is great, but I just don't, I can only imagine if we were solely formula," Gendig said. 

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