Continuing Steps to Increase Infant Formula Supply

PARSIPPANY, N.J., May 27, 2022 – In light of the continuing shortage of infant formula in the United States, Mead Johnson today provided an update on its ongoing efforts to ensure that more formula reaches store shelves and the parents who need it.

Pat Sly, President of Reckitt’s nutrition business, underscored the importance of the role its flagship brand Enfamil plays in providing the single source of nutrition for millions of babies and toddlers.

"I am extremely grateful for and proud of our colleagues, and the dedication and commitment they are demonstrating in this difficult time. Our warehouse team is working through the Memorial Day weekend to ship more than 90 truckloads, and our factory teams will produce another 5 million 8-oz feedings.”

We are working with government and retail partners on the following measures to get more product on shelves faster:

• Operating our plants 24/7 
• Streamlined our product portfolio to maximize production capacity
• Working with the United States government to secure additional manufacturing inputs and to bring formula from our manufacturing sites outside the US.
• Partnering with retailers to expedite orders and trucks and prioritizing formula at their distribution centers to fill shelves quickly.
• Dispatching product as soon as it’s been quality checked, rather than waiting until trucks are entirely filled, to get the product on shelves faster

As a result, we shipped over 30% more infant formula in Q1 vs 2021, cut time to shelf by 40% without sacrificing quality and are currently feeding 211,000 more babies than we were prior to the shortage.

We are also identifying other ways to ensure parents and infants have a steady supply of safe, high-quality formula. These include pursuing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) import exception, which would permit us to import additional infant formula supplies into the United States from our manufacturing facilities in Singapore and Mexico. Should we receive regulatory approval, we would be able to achieve the following:

• Immediately provide 200 metric tons of infant formula base powder from our Tuas facility in Singapore which would be blended and packaged in the U.S. facilitated by logistics help from Operation Fly Formula. This would be the equivalent of more than 6 million 8-oz servings and could be available by June.
• Provide approximately 170 metric tons of infant formula per month on average from our Delicias, Mexico facility
• Should these requests be approved, the combined impact would enable us to feed an additional 250,000 babies.