 Bobbie logo | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founder | Laura Modi and Sarah Hardy |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California [1] , United States |
| Products | Infant formula |
| Website | www |
Bobbie is an American infant formula company based in San Francisco, California. It was founded by Laura Modi and Sarah Hardy.
Bobbie was founded in 2018 by Laura Modi, an Irish-American who was working as an executive at Airbnb. [2] The idea behind the company came from her difficulty finding suitable baby formula to feed her first infant. [3] Sarah Hardy, a co-worker from Airbnb, also helped establish Bobbie in 2019. [4] [5] Bobbie's infant formula was made with organic ingredients and did not use corn syrup, palm oil, or soy. [6] Modi named the company Bobbie after her infant daughter's pronunciation of the word "bottle." [4]
In May 2023, the company released its second product, an formula it calls “organic gentle”, designed for fussy babies. [7]
The company also operates Bobbie Labs, a research and development hub which invests in research to expand its product offerings. [8]
In July 2023, the company acquired pediatric nutrition company Nature's One, after closing a $70 million Series C funding round. [9]
An early version of Bobbie's European-style formula was initially recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2019 due to concerns about the product labeling. [10] [11] The company revised the formula's labeling and the product became the first European-style formula to meet FDA requirements, and officially launched in January 2021. [12] [13]
In February 2022, the company's sales increased when Abbott Laboratories shut down and recalled its formula products, leading to a formula shortage. By July 2022, Bobbie's formula was being carried at Target. [14]
Bobbie's milk has high DHA content and 60:40 whey to casein ratio, similar to what is found in breast milk. [15] The milk is sourced from Organic Valley milk from pasture-raised cows around the U.S. and is manufactured in Ohio. [16] It is produced and processed in the United States but is also labelled "European-style," due to more restrictive EU formula requirements. [13] Bobbie claims to avoid high fructose corn syrup, and palm oil. [6]
Infant formula, also called baby formula, simply formula, baby milk or infant milk, is an ultra-processed food designed and marketed for feeding to babies and infants under 12 months of age, usually prepared for bottle-feeding or cup-feeding from powder or liquid. The U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) defines infant formula as "a food which purports to be or is represented for special dietary use solely as a food for infants by reason of its simulation of human milk or its suitability as a complete or partial substitute for human milk".
Nestlé S.A. is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 2014. It ranked No. 64 on the Fortune Global 500 in 2017. In 2023, the company was ranked 50th in the Forbes Global 2000.
A baby bottle, nursing bottle, or feeding bottle is a bottle with a teat attached to it, which creates the ability to drink via suckling. It is typically used by infants and young children, or if someone cannot drink from a cup, for feeding oneself or being fed. It can also be used to feed non-human mammals.
Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Green Oaks, Illinois, United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known drugs; today, it sells medical devices, diagnostics, branded generic medicines and nutritional products. It split off its research-based pharmaceuticals business into AbbVie in 2013.
The Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), co-founded in 1999 by Sally Fallon (Morell) and nutritionist Mary G. Enig, is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to "restoring nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research and activism".
A boycott was launched in the United States on July 4, 1977, against the Swiss-based multinational food and drink processing corporation Nestlé. The boycott expanded into Europe in the early 1980s and was prompted by concerns about Nestlé's aggressive marketing of infant formulas, particularly in underdeveloped countries. The boycott has been cancelled and renewed because of the business practices of Nestlé and other substitute manufacturers monitored by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). Organizers of the boycott as well as public health researchers and experts consider breast milk to be the best nutrition source for infants. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends infants to be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives, nevertheless, sometimes nutritional gaps need to be filled if breastfeeding is not possible.
Baby food is any soft, easily consumed food other than breastmilk or infant formula that is made specifically for human babies between six months and two years old. The food comes in many varieties and flavors that are purchased ready-made from producers, or it may be table food eaten by the family that has been mashed or otherwise broken down.
A product recall is a request from a manufacturer to return a product after the discovery of safety issues or product defects that might endanger the consumer or put the maker/seller at risk of legal action.
The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes is an international health policy framework for breastfeeding promotion adopted by the World Health Assembly (WHA) of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1981. The Code was developed as a global public health strategy and recommends restrictions on the marketing of breast milk substitutes, such as infant formula, to ensure that mothers are not discouraged from breastfeeding and that substitutes are used safely if needed. The Code also covers ethical considerations and regulations for the marketing of feeding bottles and teats. A number of subsequent WHA resolutions have further clarified or extended certain provisions of the Code.
Plant milk is a plant beverage with a color resembling that of milk. Plant milks are non-dairy beverages made from a water-based plant extract for flavoring and aroma. Plant milks are consumed as alternatives to dairy milk, and may provide a creamy mouthfeel.
Milk Duds are a brand of candies made with chocolate, created in 1928 by Hoffman and Company of Chicago and now produced and marketed by The Hershey Company, under license from owners of the brand, Highlander Partners, a Dallas-based global private equity firm.
Similac is a brand of infant formula that was developed by Alfred Bosworth of Tufts University and marketed by Abbott Laboratories. It was first released in the late 1920s, and then reformulated and concentrated in 1951. Today, Similac is sold in 96 countries worldwide.
Enfamil is an American brand of infant formula that is made by Mead Johnson, a subsidiary of Reckitt. From 1989 through 2011, Mead Johnson used Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit on its U.S. packaging. However, in 2012, the company transitioned to its signature duck across its U.S. Enfamil product line. Enfamil is a product name associated with formulas for babies.
Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme is a candy bar manufactured by The Hershey Company and first introduced in 1994.
In China, the adulteration and contamination of several food and feed ingredients with inexpensive melamine and other compounds, such as cyanuric acid, ammeline and ammelide, are common practice. These adulterants can be used to inflate the apparent protein content of products, so that inexpensive ingredients can pass for more expensive, concentrated proteins. Melamine by itself has not been thought to be very toxic to animals or humans except possibly in very high concentrations, but the combination of melamine and cyanuric acid has been implicated in kidney failure. Reports that cyanuric acid may be an independently and potentially widely used adulterant in China have heightened concerns for both animal and human health.
Critics and competitors of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), notably the sugar industry, have for many years used various public relations campaigns to claim the sweetener causes certain health conditions, despite the lack of scientific evidence that HFCS differs nutritionally from sugar. The HFCS industry has tried to respond to these campaigns with their own efforts.
BabyNes is a beverage machine by Nestlé that makes infant formula from single-use capsules, similar to Nestlé's Nespresso. The product was designed to recreate Nespresso's success with coffee in the baby formula industry. It was first introduced in Switzerland on May 25, 2011. The Wall Street Journal referred to Nespresso as Nestlé's fastest growing brand in 2011 after its sales rose by 20% in 2010 and it brought a number of legal actions against competitors. Nestlé reported strong sales for the product in late 2011.
The Honest Company, Inc. is an American digital-first consumer goods company, based in Los Angeles and founded by actress Jessica Alba, Christopher Gavigan, and Brian Lee. The company had $319 million in 2021 sales, and was valued at roughly $550 million as of February 2022. Chief Executive Officer Carla Vernón is one of the first Afro-Latina CEOs of a U.S. publicly traded company. The Honest Company has raised multiple rounds of venture capital, and went public via initial public offering in May 2021, generating over $100 million in capital. Honest serves the United States, China, Canada, and Europe.
Bellamy's Australia is a major Australian food and beverage company, and is the parent company of Bellamy's Organic, Australia's largest organic infant formula producer.
In 2022, the United States experienced a severe shortage of infant formula as a result of the 2021–2022 global supply chain crisis compounded by a large scale product recall after two babies allegedly died after consuming Abbott infant formula, import restrictions, and market concentration. Unlike other food products, infant formula often does not have an available and acceptable substitute as a source of nutrition for those who rely on it. In addition to infants, the formula recalls affected non-infant medical patients who require nasogastric feeding or have certain other conditions.