Outrage over video of Woolworths shoppers stockpiling baby formula
An outraged Woolworths customer has filmed shoppers appearing to break baby formula limit rules.
In the footage uploaded to Facebook, a number of people can be seen loading formula into dozens of shopping bags stashed in a corner outside the supermarket at Doncaster East in Melbourne’s northeast.
The shoppers appear to each drop a bag of two tins of baby formula onto the stockpile before grabbing another bag and re-entering the store.
Woolworths has a two-tin transaction limit on the highly sought after baby formula.
“I cannot actually believe my own eyes. How this can be legal in Australia blows my mind,” the shopper who filmed the video wrote on Facebook.
“Lucky for us, we only needed formula when our daughter turned 10 months.
“My heart aches for the families in Australia and abroad who need constant access to formula and simply cannot purchase what they need.
“If there are no issues with supply, why don’t they directly supply exporters?”
Anxious parents struggling to find A2 baby formula for infants
The woman who filmed the shoppers slammed the two-tin policy and said there was no point to it if it could not be policed.
Other angry shoppers commented on the video in disbelief.
“This infuriates me so much. Something has to be done, it’s out of control,” one commented.
A shopper said it was disgraceful while another was disgusted by how these actions impacted her own daughter.
“Our girl has been on that exact same formula brand (A2) since five weeks and we struggle to find stock for her,” she said.
“It makes me so anxious not knowing if we can source formula for her that she needs.”
The latest video emerges after another showing the baby formula crisis was shared earlier this month.
The footage filmed at a Woolworths store at Oakleigh in Melbourne’s southeast showed a male shopper frantically sorting through a trolley with at least 10 tins of formula inside.
There is high demand for overseas baby formula in China after the reputation of Chinese produced formula and its quality was badly damaged following a scandal in 2008 which led to the death of six babies.
Popular baby formula tins such as A2, Bellamy’s and Aptamil sell for between $25 to $35 each and are sold for up to $100 per tin in China, leaving Australian parents empty-handed.
Woolworths says customers have access to stock when they need it
Coles and Woolworths have both previously said all stores adhere to a strict two-tin per customer quota.
Yahoo 7 asked Woolworths if the practice caught on film at the Doncaster East store breached the supermarket’s baby formula purchase rules, but it declined to provide an answer.
The supermarket chain said in a statement the video was filmed on Sunday and stock was readily available on the shelf at the time.
“We have a two-tin transaction limit on baby formula in place and our store teams work hard to ensure customers have access to stock when they need it,” the statement said.
“Baby formula stock was readily available to customers at our Doncaster East store throughout Sunday.
“As always we encourage any parents who find their chosen baby formula is unavailable on the shelf to speak with their store manager so we can help get them stock as quickly as possible.”
