Originally published in WFMZ.
Written by Tom Rader.

EXETER TWP., Pa. - "When one facility went out of production, half the country couldn't find sole source nutrients for their babies,” said CEO of ByHeart, Ron Belldegrun.

Now, a bill in D.C. called the Investing in New Families and Newborns Through Tax Credit Act aims to give a boost to places like ByHeart, an Exeter Township-based baby formula company.

"This is a great opportunity for our region,” said U.S. Rep Chrissy Houlahan (D.) “We are a great heritage of manufacturing. Obviously, we have a great heritage as you were pointing out, in terms of dairy, so we're hopeful that this spot as well as other spots around the country will be able to provide a great product."

The bill would offer tax credits to formula makers, with a goal of promoting competition so there's more access to formula nationwide. It was born out of the baby formula shortage experienced back in 2022.

“It creates a vulnerability that if one of those facilities isn't running, you have a big part of the country that can't find formula,” said Belldegrun.

"We realized part of the problem was there weren't enough infant formula manufacturers able to provide all that and we needed to diversify,” Houlahan said. “It's bipartisan. Senator Casey has also been working on a portion of this.”