Sam's Club Announces Enfamil-Like Low-Lactose Baby Formula

A press release from Wal-Mart's giant Sam's Club announced that the warehouse club would market an exclusive low-lactose baby formula.

Baby formula company PBM Products, LLC, and Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , and one of the nation's largest warehouse clubs, have introduced new Member's Mark^® Gentle Infant Formula. Available exclusively at Sam's Club, the new formula is easier to digest than standard cow's milk-based formulas.

Babies react differently when trying standard infant formulas. Many experience reactions to these formulas that may include general fussiness during or after feeding, gas, or bloating. Health-care professionals often advise parents to switch to a different type of formula. In the past, these recommendations may have included switching to a lactose-free, cow's milk protein-based formula or a soy formula.

Now, Member's Mark offers a "gentle" formula that contains partially broken down whey protein and one-fourth the lactose in standard formulas. Member's Mark Gentle offers the benefits of the recommended protein source of cow's milk without sacrificing all the lactose, a carbohydrate that occurs naturally in breast milk. The new formula contains other nutrients found in mother's milk, including choline, DHA, and ARA, key nutrients associated with infant mental and visual development.

...

Member's Mark Gentle:

• Is fortified with iron and contains all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients required for a healthy baby's first year

• Is enriched with 17 mg of DHA and 34 mg of ARA per 100 Calories- the same levels as Enfamil^® Gentlease™ LIPIL^® -- at a savings of up to 50 percent*

• Is manufactured to exacting FDA standards in the only ISO 9001:2000- certified, infant formula-manufacturing facility in the United States

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*More information and a savings calculator are available at the newly designed Web site, www.membersmarkformula.com/

Seems to be a mighty narrow market niche to me, but then what is Sam's Club for but to find narrow market niches that other retailers can't afford to serve.

Speaking of which, if you don't belong to a Sam's Club but you like the sound of this formula, you should out Enfamil^® Gentlease™ LIPIL^®, the original they are obviously trying to match.