A Lake District-based baby milk manufacturer will be one of the first European manufacturers to fly formula milk to the US to address a shortage that leaves many parents struggling to feed their babies.

Kendamil, the only UK-made baby milk brand on the market, produced by the family-owned Kendal Nutricare, has been ramped up after Abbott Laboratories, the largest producer in the US with 40% market share, launched a nationwide recall.

The Cumbria-based company — whose milk was used by the royal family to wean Prince Louis of Cambridge — will ship 2 million cans of infant formula to the U.S. over the next six months, after the U.S. regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said: import requirements for the sector eased temporarily until mid-November.

The changes are part of Operation Fly Formula, launched this month by Joe Biden to address the shortage created since Abbott closed a factory in Michigan in February and recalled infant formula products.

That decision followed a federal investigation into the cases of four babies who used the formula and who developed bacterial infections, two of whom died. Abbott has said there is no link between the formula and the diseases.