ByHeart Celebrates the FDA Registration of their Reading, Pennsylvania Facility, Becoming the First New Infant Formula Manufacturer in the U.S. in Over 15 Years

April 28, 2022

• Pennsylvania government officials including State Senator Judith Schwank and Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding attended a ribbon cutting to support the $21.6M manufacturing investment ByHeart made to create a state-of-the-art facility and infant nutrition center of excellence in the state
• ByHeart is now only the 4th fully integrated infant formula brand in the country: the company will invest an additional $26M into their Pennsylvania manufacturing facility, demonstrating their commitment to innovation in infant nutrition and food science
• ByHeart's investment in domestic infrastructure strengthens the U.S infant nutrition supply chain, and creates highly skilled manufacturing and R&D jobs
• Supporting manufacturing employees and their families is a core focus for ByHeart, and the company has considerably bolstered parental support and benefits within the facility

READING, Pa., April 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today ByHeart, the next-generation baby nutrition company, officially announced the FDA registration of their Reading, Pennsylvania manufacturing facility, becoming only the 4th vertically integrated U.S. infant formula brand to have full oversight of their production, supply chain and R&D–enabling them to rewrite the formula recipe from scratch and have control over every step of the process, from farm to formula – something no new infant formula entrant has accomplished in over 15 years. The ByHeart facility will have meaningful impact nationwide: with retail stores across the US reaching nearly 30% out of stock inventory on infant formula last month,¹ ByHeart's registration  strengthens the fragile U.S. infant nutrition supply chain and seeks to mitigate the risk of formula shortages.

Senator Judith Schwank and Russell Redding, Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture, joined ByHeart founders, Ron Belldegrun and Mia Funt in delivering welcoming remarks at the facility ribbon cutting today, and spoke to the positive effects the facility will have on the Pennsylvania economy and local agriculture. In 2021, Senator Schwank announced that ByHeart was awarded a $1.75 million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant on behalf of the State of Pennsylvania for investments in ByHeart's Reading facility. 

"I'm thrilled to invest in innovation in the infant nutrition industry with $1.75 million in state support," said Governor Tom Wolf. "In addition to supporting good health from birth, this investment in ByHeart will create good jobs, economic impact, and support for agriculture in the commonwealth and indeed the entire country currently suffering from shortages in this supply – it's an all-around win."

In 2019, ByHeart acquired and updated their own manufacturing facility in Reading, PA rather than using a 3rd party contract manufacturer as every other new entrant has done. They have invested $21.6 million to date, including enhancements in preventative food safety measures to convert the plant from toddler food production to infant formula capability, and engaged Pennsylvania-based companies for the engineering and construction. The team was able to tailor the facility specifically to the ByHeart formula as well as accommodate full in-house R&D capabilities. They created a proprietary small batch blending process that requires half the steps of the industry norm and is designed to maintain the nutritional integrity and quality of the ingredients throughout every step and uphold the highest standards of food safety. Reduced processing means ByHeart is able to maintain the natural goodness and functional benefits of their ingredients.

"We spent 2 years auditing infant formula plants around the world," explained ByHeart CEO and Co-Founder, Ron Belldegrun. "We chose the Commonwealth as our home base because of local expertise, rich agricultural heritage, and a commitment to furthering value-add Dairy, which – together with our expertise in infant nutrition innovation – has the potential to transform Reading into a national and global hub for the export of the most fundamental and vital food in the world."

ByHeart's owned facility and groundbreaking approach to infant nutrition establishes an ecosystem that sustains and builds upon Pennsylvania's national leadership in dairy innovation, and means PA will be only the 7th state to have end-to-end powdered infant formula manufacturing. Infant formula is the highest value dairy category in the world; ByHeart's facility brings skilled manufacturing jobs, drives demand for local dairy and creates new opportunities for nutrition ingredient innovation and premiumization. ByHeart's infant formula includes a patented protein blend of the two most abundant proteins in breast milk, alpha-lactalbumin and lactoferrin, as well as broken down proteins, and gets the closest to breast milk in the market. The formula is also the first to include organic, grass-fed whole milk. ByHeart has developed a distinct capability to receive and dry organic, grass-fed, raw, whole milk within 48 hours or less; this includes surplus milk, thereby reducing dairy waste and increasing demand for grass-fed, organic farming.

ByHeart purchased their facility in 2019 and not only retained all then-existing employees, but also hired during the pandemic. The company overhauled benefits for the manufacturing team to offer packages more consistent with corporate roles, including (among many other benefits) 4 months of parental leave and stock option grants to all employees to ensure pride of ownership at every level. Belldegrun and Funt believe in investing in their manufacturing workforce and have steadily increased wages since acquiring the facility to nearly 45% over the average manufacturing hourly rate, and have provided educational resources that bolster the knowledge and skill base of all employees. ByHeart also works to ensure a "parent-friendly" manufacturing environment,  even including a fully stocked and decorated feeding suite for pumping.

"At ByHeart, we are proud to own manufacturing in the US, and believe our employees are our single most important investment. We're committed to providing excellent benefits and resources to everyone at every level – from operations to the executive team. Just as we hope to set a new standard for infant nutrition with our first of its kind infant formula, we also want to support a new baseline for how manufacturing employees are valued: the past two years have demonstrated just how fundamental our essential workers are, and their families must be supported," said ByHeart President and Co-Founder, Mia Funt.

ByHeart's infant formula, which launched March 23rd, is now available exclusively on byheart.com, priced at $39 (a competitive $1.62/oz) for a larger 680g can (46 four-ounce feeds); families who are formula feeding exclusively will only need about five cans per month, as opposed to over 10 from some other brands.