The first shipment of baby formula, weighing 35 tonnes (77,000 pounds), has arrived in Indianapolis as part of the Biden administration’s “Operation Fly Formula” to import the commodity from Europe to relieve a serious shortage in the United States.

It is the first of several flights from Europe carrying infant formula, designed for children who have allergic reactions to protein and cow milk, that are expected to arrive this weekend, alleviating the country’s deepening shortage caused by the February closure of the nation’s largest domestic manufacturing plant in Michigan due to safety concerns.

After US President Joe Biden used the Defense Production Act, the flights were authorised.

According to Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro, reporting from Washington DC, the secretary of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), who was in Indianapolis to celebrate the arrival of the first cargo, this will only last about a week, feeding around 27,000 children in need.

“This is only about one-third of the total supply to be delivered from Europe into the US. The FDA [US Food and Drug Administration] is also dropping some importation restrictions to make this happen quickly,” she said.

“The Biden administration is hoping that it’s good publicity, showing that they are using everything they can, including the military, to address the acute problem.”

According to the White House, 132 pallets of Nestlé Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior formula were scheduled to depart Ramstein Air Base in Germany for the United States.

In the following days, another 114 pallets of Gerber Good Start Extensive HA formula were planned to arrive. Approximately 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles of the three hypoallergenic formulas for youngsters with cow’s milk protein allergies are slated to arrive this week.