The situation of the infant milk market in the United States shows how sensitive the issue of food sovereignty has become. Some are discovering it, others have been preparing for it for a long time. The equation is very simple but terrifying. Better to ask it coldly to try not to suffer the inexorable deadlines. Population growth in developing countries, and the increase in demand and the standard of living in developed countries, in a context of climate change, epizootics and armed conflicts in large agricultural areas pose serious threats on global food production. In summary, there will not be for everyone! And the war in Ukraine and global warming are not helping matters.
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For more than a month, American families have struggled to provide themselves with baby milk. Store shelves are empty, online merchants are out of stock or asking their customers for abnormal prices and delays. And there is no question of giving your child a product that does not offer absolute guarantees as to its traceability and quality.
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The situation is all the more critical since most American mothers do not breastfeed their children. No question of denying this choice to those who have no medical contraindications. They alone must decide whether to breastfeed their child. But in a country where maternity leave hardly exists, the choice is quickly made even if the experts recognize the great advantages of breastfeeding for the health of the child.
An industry destabilized by Covid
Nobody worried about the supply of infant milk across the Atlantic, a trivial subject that is considered to be the responsibility of private companies, until a health alert forced one of the main manufacturers, Abbott, to close a factory in Michigan in February. Two infants died of poisoning. This factory, first implicated before being cleared, had to stop production and recall its products put on sale. Enough to totally destabilize the American baby milk market, which had already been subject for several months to serious problems of shortages and shortages. As in the entire food industry, factories and their logistics have been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Companies suffer from a lack of manpower and do not operate at 100% of their capacity due to a lack of personnel.
An aggravating factor, more than 90% of the production of infant formula is in the hands of four groups including Abbott, Nestlé and Mead Johnson. This extreme concentration of the sector deprives consumers of choice and the possibility of alternatives in the event of shortages. Finally, because of the draconian safety standards that the American administration imposes on foreign factories, the import of these milks was until then almost non-existent.
Operation “Fly Formula” launched by the White House
The case therefore became a major crisis. President Joe Biden seized it himself, forced to pass an emergency law to simplify imports. The White House even orchestrated with the Pentagon, the airlift which made it possible to transport boxes of milk under the code name “Fly Formula” (Operation Lait Infantile).
Even the French Danone, the world’s second largest producer of infant milk but a marginal player in the United States, joined the operation, increasing the capacity of its factory in Liverpool in England and its organic milk unit on American soil. . According to Reuters, Danone has tripled its deliveries to North America.
How not to compare this serious American supply accident with the investments made for several years by China in the agricultural sector. First abroad, in Europe and Africa, then increasingly on its own territory, China is investing massively in giant farms, factory farms and huge agri-food factories. Regarding infant milk, the country also experienced a severe shortage several years ago and has drawn the consequences.
How can we not also highlight the decision taken at the beginning of May by India, one of the five largest wheat producers in the world, which banned the export of its national production in order to reserve it for its domestic market.
What rekindle concerns about food shortages in the most dependent countries in the coming months.
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