US President Joe Biden on Wednesday invoked Defense Production Act to boost the production of baby formula in the country amid an acute shortage driven by a product recall.

Under the provisions of the Act, the Biden-Harris administration instructed “suppliers to direct needed resources to infant formula manufacturers before any other customer who have ordered the good.”

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“Directing firms to prioritize and allocate the production of key infant formula inputs will help increase production and speed up in supply chains,” the White House further said in a statement on the new measures taken to boost baby formula production.

The President on Wednesday also announced ‘Operation Fly Formula’ effectively authorising the use of Department of Defense (DoD) aircraft for quick imports of baby formula to address the shortfall in the country.

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Under the operation, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) can use DoD “commercial aircraft to pick up overseas infant formula that meets U.S. health and safety standards, so it can get to store shelves faster.”

The White House explained that the DoD would use its extant contracts with commercial air cargo handlers to transport infant formula from overseas production facilities that meet the standards of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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“Bypassing regular air freighting routes will speed up the importation and distribution of formula and serve as an immediate support as manufacturers continue to ramp up production,” the White House statement explained.

The extraordinary steps come amid an acute shortage of infant formula in the US, a shortage that has quickly spiralled into a political issue and sparked scathing criticism of the Biden-Harris administration from Republicans.

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The problem first reared its head in last year, when the out-of-stock rate for baby formula started skyrocketing: according to Datasembly, this rate, which hovered between 2% and 8% in the first half of 2021, ballooned to 31% between November 2021 and April 2022.

The growing shortage, brought about by supply chain disruptions precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, was exacerbated in February this year when Abbott Nutrition, a major formula manufacturer, announced the recall of several of its products due to reports of bacterial infection, thereby wiping out a large segment of the market.