"My blood was boiling for the mothers having problems finding A2 for their babies. I was feeling sensitive because I've got a newborn," the stay-at-home mother from Mernda, Melbourne, told Fairfax Media on Monday. Jessica Hay's photograph of people bulk buying baby formula at Woolworths went viral. "If they were with babies, it would be understandable, they need to feed their kids too. But it felt like a smooth operation, like they did this all the time." Outraged, she snapped photographs on her phone, as another customer begged a Woolworths employee to intervene and stop the bulk sale. The woman's cries were ignored. Mrs Hay posted the images on a Facebook group for local mothers soon after the incident which occurred at Epping Plaza in Melbourne last Saturday afternoon.

The photo is on the verge of hitting viral status. Another Facebook group member posted the photo to Woolworths' page, saying: "We are in a formula shortage and you are allowing this?! What happened to four tins maximum per person? Look at the empty crate in the picture?!" Jessica Hay with her son Archie and her daughter Khloe. That post has since gained nearly 6000 likes, 2500 shares and 2400 comments. Woolworths said in one of those comments it would investigate. "When I saw them buying everything, I thought: 'Oh my god, it's actually happening, here it is'. Another customer walked past me and said: 'I can't believe that's actually happening', and I was like: 'I know'," Mrs Hay said. Only two weeks earlier Mrs Hay had been struggling to find tins of S26 formula. She eventually located tins at a shop four hours away and had to ask her mother to buy them.

She said the employee serving the group at the checkout looked young and unaware of the store's four-tin limit. If the group flogs all the tins on the e-commerce website Taobao.com, they could earn about $1500, since each tin sells for two to three times the Australian retail price. Earlier on Monday, Fairfax Media reported that Woolworths was facing growing consumer pressure to nationalise and strictly enforce a four-tin limit. At present, the limit is eight tins per customer. But stores are imposing whatever limit they see fit, or none at all. "When I first saw the stack, some boxes were open with tins on top of it. I think they were hoping people would take what was needed. But this group took it all," Mrs Hay said.

She said some people on social media had speculated the woman standing near the crate was a Woolworths employee. She was not. "She was waiting for another trolley to be brought over. Even if another mother wanted to approach that crate, I felt like they would have been stopped by her," Mrs Hay said. Fairfax Media has asked Woolworths for an update of its investigation into the incident. A spokesman did not answer the question. Do you know more? ehan@fairfaxmedia.com.au In September, A2 chief executive Geoff Babidge said its infant formula sales were on track to triple this financial year.

He said, like Bellamy's, Australian shoppers and Chinese consumers were fuelling that growth. Bellamy's Organic baby formula has also been wiped off shelves because of huge Chinese demand. "We have had significant growth on online sites such as Alibaba, and also at retail level at grocery and pharmacy where Chinese tourists and nationals are often buying products on trips and taking it back with them," Mr Babidge said. "We are clearly demonstrating that we are having enormous traction with Chinese nationals. There is no question about that."