COLUMBUS — A large shipment of baby formula has landed in Ohio amid the nationwide shortage.
An airplane containing 85,000 tins, or approximately 1.85 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents, of Bubs Australia infant formula landed at Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus Friday morning, according to our news partners at WBNS in Columbus.
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The formula was flown in from Melbourne, Australia as part of Operation Fly Formula, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Health and Human Services, General Services Administration and Department of Defense working to import baby formula from other nations to the United States.
Friday’s shipment will be distributed to Walmart stores across the nation, including Ohio, WBNS reported.
The shipment comes days after Abbott, the country’s largest formula manufacturer, was forced to halt production at their plant in Sturgis, Michigan due to flooding from recent severe thunderstorms and heavy rains.
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“These torrential storms produced significant rainfall in a short period of time – overwhelming the city’s stormwater system in Sturgis, Mich., and resulting in flooding in parts of the city, including areas of our plant,” Abbott said in a news release Wednesday.
The company said the facility will undergo “comprehensive testing” with an “independent third party” to make sure the plant can resume operations. They said this is expected to delay the production and distribution of new product for a few weeks.