I think it would be a net zero for babies getting access to food because it’s not like it’s being stolen to be destroyed or processed into something that won’t eventually get fed to some baby.

Though it might be equivalent to scalping if the goal is to create a shortage to sell at a higher price in the same area. But I’d bet that if it’s being sold locally, it’s at a discount.

you cannot know which one is which when you see a person shoplifting

if you snitch on them, there are two outcomes:

• whoever organised the crime of stealing baby formula doesn’t get their daily quota from the person they told to do it, and either helps or punishes the person desperate enough to go and do the actual shoplifting for them. You helped a corporation avoid theft

• a baby goes without food, and an already impoverished parent is financially, legally, or socially punished. You helped a corporation avoid theft

is it worth it to possibly make a mother cry as her baby goes hungry, to try to help a corporation?