Baby nutrition company registers Reading facility

New York-based ByHeart, a baby nutrition company, recently announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration registration of the company’s Reading manufacturing facility.

Registration means the company becomes the fourth vertically integrated U.S. infant formula brand to have full oversight of its production, supply chain, and research and development. This will allow the company to rewrite the formula recipe from scratch and have control over every step of the production process.

ByHeart purchased the facility in 2019 and has invested $21.6 million to update the plant.

“We spent two years auditing infant formula plants around the world,” Ron Belldegrun, ByHeart CEO and co-founder, said. “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 infant formula brand launched March 23.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Thursday. It was attended by Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, state Sen. Judith Schwank (D-Reading) and ByHeart’s founders.

The state awarded ByHeart a $1.75 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant last year.