ALLERTON, Iowa — In January of 2023 there was excitement buzzing around the Wayne County community of Allerton. New owners were taking over the plant, just as there was a national shortage of infant formula. That’s something workers here know about, as that is what they produced under the plant’s prior ownership.
Since then the plant has expanded the workforce by 50% to 112 people. The plant was also re-certified by federal regulators to be producing the baby formula. On Wednesday the ByHeart plant was visited by Governor Reynolds, the Economic Development Authority, and the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
“We all know last year was one of the largest food security crises with the infant formula shortage,” said Mia Funt, ByHeart Company Co-Founder. “We realize the importance of owning manufacturing not only to be able to innovate, but to be a reliable partner to parents.”
Last year parents had to drive across state lines in some cases to find infant formula. Even though that is no longer in the news the pipeline for baby formula can be interrupted.
“Even this year when there was a couple day port strike, we saw again shortages on the shelf,” said Funt. “It only highlights the importance of having a three-site supply chain with back ups in the system to ensure that we could be reliable partners to parents.”
Funt says her company has the three plants in Allerton, Oregon, and Pennsylvania as a way to keep a dependable supply of formula. Her company markets through Walmart, Target and Amazon.
“It’s only five companies that provide this and so they have seen great capacity and great growth in just the year that they’ve been in the market,” said Governor Kim Reynolds, after a briefing and tour of the plant. “We want to be able to work with them and hopefully continue to build that capacity right here in Allerton.”
Already this company is the second largest employer in Wayne County.
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