Abbott Nutrition has transported millions of cans of infant formula by air from Ireland to the US due to a shortage of its Similac infant formula products.

The shortage was caused by a recall of products in February when bacteria was found in formula made at one of Abbott Nutrition’s plants in the US.

“The February voluntary recall involved four complaints of Cronobacter sakazaki, a common environmental bacteria, in infants who consumed infant formulas produced in this plant,” Abbott Nutrition said.

The plant was responsible for producing up to 25% of US baby formula.

Abbott Nutrition has a US Food and Drug Administration-registered plant in Cootehill, Co Cavan where they’ve increased the volume of Similac Advance powder formula produced for the US and has already “air shipped millions of cans into the US”.

Approximately 1,000 dairy farms in Ireland and Northern Ireland supply milk to the Cootehill facility and the plant processes 500,000l of milk per day.

“We’re air-shipping product from this facility into the US daily and the product is being restocked regularly.

“Our Cootehill team sources ingredients from approximately 1,000 dairy farms in the local area,” it said.

According to Abbott Nutrition, millions of parents rely on its formula to feed their babies.

“We are grateful for the dedication of our colleagues in our facilities around the world, including Cootehill, for doing everything possible to help mums, dads and caregivers get the high-quality nutrition they need for their babies,” it said.

An industry source told the Irish Farmers Journal that Abbott has been “trying to fill the gap and it’s not just today or yesterday that the Cootehill plant has come into play”.

Exact figures on increased output are not available at the moment but the factory is at “full utilisation”, he said.

Opportunity

He added that this shortage has given the Cootehill facility a huge opportunity to “step up”.

“There’s a manufacturing and canning capability to the factory so Cootehill is a major part of the response and it’s welcome for Irish dairy,” he said.