Food supply concerns

[missy]

U.S. Food Supply Chain Is Strained as Virus Spreads (Published 2020)

Disruptions are expected in the production and distribution of products like pork, and localized shortages could occur.

www.nytimes.com

Closures of some meat plants due to illness with Covid 19.
Others (farmers and suppliers) throwing out lots of food due to spoilage due to less demand for various reasons.

By Michael Corkery and David Yaffe-Bellany




April 13, 2020
The nation’s food supply chain is showing signs of strain, as increasing numbers of workers are falling ill with the coronavirus in meat processing plants, warehouses and grocery stores.
The spread of the virus through the food and grocery industry is expected to cause disruptions in production and distribution of certain products like pork, industry executives, labor unions and analysts have warned in recent days. The issues follow nearly a month of stockpiling of food and other essentials by panicked shoppers that have tested supply networks as never before.
Industry leaders and observers acknowledge the shortages could increase, but they insist it is more of an inconvenience than a major problem. People will have enough to eat; they just may not have the usual variety. The food supply remains robust, they say, with hundreds of millions of pounds of meat in cold storage. There is no evidence that the coronavirus can be transmitted through food or its packaging, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Still, the illnesses have the potential to cause shortages lasting weeks for a few products, creating further anxiety for Americans already shaken by how difficult it can be to find high-demand staples like flour and eggs.



“You might not get what you want when you want it,” said Christine McCracken, a meat industry analyst at Rabobank in New York. “Consumers like to have a lot of different choices, and the reality is in the short term, we just don’t have the labor to make that happen.”
In one of the most significant signs of pressure since the pandemic began, Smithfield Foods became the latest company to announce a shutdown, announcing Sunday that it would close its processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., after 230 workers became ill with the virus. The plant produces more than 5 percent of the nation’s pork.



“The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply,” Smithfield’s chief executive, Kenneth M. Sullivan, said in a statement.
As of Saturday, the plant’s Covid-19 cases were more than half South Dakota’s active total, Gov. Kristi Noem said. She called the outbreak an “alarming statistic” and asked Smithfield to shut down the facility for two weeks.



The problems at the Sioux Falls pork plant show the food processing industry’s vulnerability to an outbreak. Employees often work shoulder to shoulder, and some companies have granted sick leave only to employees who test positive for the coronavirus. That potentially leaves on the job thousands of other infected workers who haven’t been tested, hastening the infection’s spread.



The plant that Smithfield Foods is shutting down in Sioux Falls, S.D., produces more than 5 percent of the nation’s pork. Credit...Stephen Groves/Associated Press

Other major processors have had to shut down plants. JBS USA, the world’s largest meat processor, closed a plant in Pennsylvania for two weeks. Last week, Cargill closed a facility in Pennsylvania where it produces steaks, ground beef and ground pork. And Tyson halted operations at a pork plant in Iowa after more than two dozen workers tested positive.


“Labor is going to be the biggest thing that can break,” said Karan Girotra, a supply-chain expert at Cornell University. “If large numbers of people start getting sick in rural America, all bets are off.”
At the other end of the supply chain, grocery stores are also dealing with increasing illnesses among workers, as well as absences by those afraid to go in to work.
Even as company officials called them “essential” for their role in feeding the country, grocery store workers went weeks without being provided with face masks and other protective gear.
Some food companies have been slow to provide the gear, while others tried but found that their orders were rerouted to the health care industry, where there is also a dire need. A few grocery workers say they are still waiting to be supplied with masks, despite federal health guidelines that recommend everybody wear one in public.
The workers also face a threat from their exposure to customers, who continue to stock up on food. Some, the workers say, don’t wear masks and fail to keep an adequate level of social distancing.



There are no government agencies tracking illnesses among food industry workers nationwide. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.3 million grocery store, food processing and meat packing employees, said on Monday that at least 1,500 of its members had been infected with the virus and that 30 of them have died.
“The Covid-19 pandemic represents a clear and present danger to our workers and our nation’s food supply,” U.F.C.W. International’s president, Marc Perrone, said.
Even before the illnesses began to spread through the industry, the supply chain had been tested intensely. Truck drivers, who were already scarce before the pandemic, couldn’t make deliveries fast enough. Hot dog factories and dairy farmers ramped up production in response to waves of panic buying.
Those surges continue to take a toll on a system that had been built largely for customers seeking speed and convenience, not stockpiling. On Sunday, Amazon said it was getting new customers seeking online grocery delivery from Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh to effectively sign up for a wait list. It’s an unusual concession for an internet giant that is used to unimpeded growth.
On some days, shoppers still cannot find flour, eggs or other staples that are in high demand. Retailers and manufacturers have offered reassurances that these shortages are temporary and merely reflect a distribution and production network that cannot work fast enough.




The parts of the food system that will suffer the worst disruptions are the ones dependent on heavily consolidated supply chains that employ large numbers of people, Mr. Girotra of Cornell said.



The Smithfield plant in South Dakota is a stark example of a vulnerable link in the chain. On its own, it produces 130 million servings of food per week. It employs 3,700 people, many of whom work closely together deboning and cutting up meat.
Last week, South Dakota officials watched the number of cases there increase at an alarming rate. Smithfield said it would shut down the building for three days to sanitize the facility. But as the number of Covid-19 cases surpassed more than half of all cases in Sioux Falls and the surrounding county, state officials asked the plant to close for 14 days “to protect the employees, the families, the Sioux Falls community and the people of South Dakota,” Governor Noem said on Saturday.
The next day, Smithfield said it would shut down “until further notice” and pay its workers for the next two weeks.
The state has not reported outbreaks at any other meat processing plants. South Dakota officials said Smithfield had ramped up testing of its employees, suggesting that this could have resulted in rates that were higher than in other populations in the state.




Some grocery workers have expressed concern about their safety during the pandemic.Credit...Brittainy Newman/The New York Times
Some big food producers are coming up with contingency plans. Absences have risen at some plants run by the Mississippi-based chicken processor Sanderson Farms, though not at a level that would significantly disrupt production, said Mike Cockrell, the company’s chief financial officer.
The company has explored alternatives in case large numbers of its workers become sick. Much of the labor at a processing plant involves deboning chicken and dividing it into cuts like breasts, thighs and wings. A reduced staff could continue packaging chicken but skip the labor-intensive process of dividing up the birds.



“You could change your mix and produce a less consumer-friendly product with fewer people,” Mr. Cockrell said. “That’s not a disaster.”
At the grocery store, he said, “you would see a whole chicken, and you could take that chicken home.”
In the grocery industry, many of the solutions to keeping the supply chain functioning are also simple, workers say. The U.F.C.W., for instance, is urging states to mandate that shoppers wear masks and appealing to customers to “shop smart” by refraining from touching products, using a shopping list and making fewer trips to the store.
Aaron Squeo, who works in the meat department at a Kroger supermarket in Madison Heights, Mich., said customers needed to practice better social distancing.
“I have seen whole families out like it’s an outing,” Mr. Squeo said. “This can’t continue like this. We need to truly change how we shop. Our lives are at stake.”
Julie Creswell contributed reporting.

 

[Austina]

We have a huge problem here with farmers just having to dump milk, almost straight from the cow, as the demand isn’t keeping up with production, due to restaurant and cafe closures.

 

[missy]

We have a huge problem here with farmers just having to dump milk, almost straight from the cow, as the demand isn’t keeping up with production, due to restaurant and cafe closures.

Yes I heard about that
Very distressing that good food is being thrown out and I wish we could do something about it. Many are going hungry because they cannot afford enough food especially now that prices are higher. How can we get the people who need food this food that is going to be thrown out?

 

[Austina]

I know here that lots of supermarkets and other organisations are donating lots of food to help those in need, but the milk situation must be really depressing for the dairy farmers, and I just don’t know what they can do about that.

 

[missy]

I feel so for the farmers. They work so hard. It is a labor of love and then to see all their hard work go down the drain quite literally. Heartbreaking.

 

[rocks]

Yes I heard about that
Very distressing that good food is being thrown out and I wish we could do something about it. Many are going hungry because they cannot afford enough food especially now that prices are higher. How can we get the people who need food this food that is going to be thrown out?

It’s happening here too.

 

[missy]

It’s happening here too.

Yes I think it’s happening in many many places sadly.

 

[PreRaphaelite]

I wish all that milk could be routed to dehydration machines so it could be sold as powdered milk - which we home bakers need and rarely find at this point.

I'm also sorry for the discomfort of the cows. We love them so much.

 

[dk168]

We have a huge problem here with farmers just having to dump milk, almost straight from the cow, as the demand isn’t keeping up with production, due to restaurant and cafe closures.

I read that too this morning, what a waste!
Shame that the milk can't be made into cheese for consumption later.

DK

 

[Jadeite_101]

In the Philippines there’s an artificial shortage of food since people are hoarding food and there is a lockdown which basically restricts the passage of food from other regions. I order online for groceries and the market but basically no beef is available since the region where it comes from has to pass thru the metro which is in Extreme Community Quarantine. There is news that vegetable growers are basically throwing their produce since all the restrictions won’t let then pass thru checkpoints. Which I don't understand? Why won’t the government not buy the produce and sell it for cheap or give it away as incentives instead of letting all the food get to waste. There are long lines in groceries, so your better bet is to shop at convenience stores. Basically the quarantine and social distancing has made food scarce. Even though our government keeps of news blasting that there’s enough supply.

 

[ringo865]

Just heard a news report that one large dairy in the next state (WI) has stopped dumping their milk and instead will make cheese and give it away to food shelves, etc. Some cheeses, mozzarella, for instance, don’t take long to age.

News Story

 

[missy]

Just heard a news report that one large dairy in the next state (WI) has stopped dumping their milk and instead will make cheese and give it away to food shelves, etc. Some cheeses, mozzarella, for instance, don’t take long to age.

News Story

That's great. I hope more companies can do something similar.

 

[Karl_K]

Just heard a news report that one large dairy in the next state (WI) has stopped dumping their milk and instead will make cheese and give it away to food shelves, etc. Some cheeses, mozzarella, for instance, don’t take long to age.

News Story

Gov cheese is the answer.
It helped a ton of people back in the day and is needed today.

 

[PreRaphaelite]

Yes! Government cheese! Smoked cheddar FTW

 

[Arcadian]

same here. Lots of farmers here are having to turn over food into the ground. Local and semi local chains ARE stocked here, no shortage of fresh produce. The more national chains aren't as much though. Farms and co-ops are trying to get food into food banks here and even other places instead of it going to waste and its not as easy as it sounds. Lot s of people looking for food, the disconnects is to get the actual trucks to get it where it needs to go.

 

[Arcadian]

The only thing that was gross about the whole government program, was that canned meat (whatever the hell it was) looked and smelled like wet Alpo.

 

[PreRaphaelite]

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I feel so for the farmers. They work so hard. It is a labor of love and then to see all their hard work go down the drain quite literally. Heartbreaking.

A grower here was feeding his lettuces to the wild deer at the bottom of his farm because if they don't replant there will be shortage
I also have seen stories of brocolli bring plowed back in
Here with only suoermarket's open there is a whole lot of produce with no market
Some places are now doing on line direct to the public now
one has to feel for the suppliers that grew for the restaurant trade

with greengrocers and butchers shut the supermarkets have it very good right now profit wise

Its interesting to read about your pork problems because here the government had to let butchers at least process the pigs because it was becoming an animal welfare issues on farms with animals unable to go to meat works due to all the farmers customers being closed so we are due a pork glut
As a matter of fact i brought two big pork chops and two packs of bacon today and a packet of ham steaks (dang - forgot the tinned pinnaple)

Unfortunately at our smaller neighbourhod supermarket apart from a bag of spuds the only fresh produce that was affordable was bananas and they were 25% dearer than last week so i only brought 3
I use them to rippen my home grown tomatoes then freeze them for pancakes to go with the bacon

I read today avacardos should be cheap because of no resturant trade but they were $3.99 each so they stayed in the shop
Gary is getting sick of apple slaw - but cabbage keeps so well - we have almost eatten an entire huge cabbage in 2 weeks- ive never eaten much cabbage before in my whole life

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

In the Philippines there’s an artificial shortage of food since people are hoarding food and there is a lockdown which basically restricts the passage of food from other regions. I order online for groceries and the market but basically no beef is available since the region where it comes from has to pass thru the metro which is in Extreme Community Quarantine. There is news that vegetable growers are basically throwing their produce since all the restrictions won’t let then pass thru checkpoints. Which I don't understand? Why won’t the government not buy the produce and sell it for cheap or give it away as incentives instead of letting all the food get to waste. There are long lines in groceries, so your better bet is to shop at convenience stores. Basically the quarantine and social distancing has made food scarce. Even though our government keeps of news blasting that there’s enough supply.

It must be very similar to us all over the world
Its not good at all

Food banks are crying out for help right now becsuse right across the board charities are doing it hard and there are so many more needy

I did read somewhere what the powers at be now know they did wrong is they told the people not to hoard
As soon as you tell people not to do something ...
Now the message is shop normally
Well if only i could do that !!

 

[Arcadian]

So here's Florida's answer, They're letting you shop direct to the farmer, that includes meat too.

So that means get your friends, your neighbors, and y'all go buy veggies, fish, eggs, milk, meat in bulk!

Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

www.fdacs.gov

 

[missy]

Just left Costco. They had produce and prices are back up. 2 weeks ago when we were last there produce prices were slashed. Now they are back to where the prices were prior. But they did not have the salad I usually get so I had to get a different brand and type. But at least they had it.

 

[missy]

So here's Florida's answer, They're letting you shop direct to the farmer, that includes meat too.

So that means get your friends, your neighbors, and y'all go buy veggies, fish, eggs, milk, meat in bulk!

Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

www.fdacs.gov

I think there’s options like that here too. Direct farmer to consumer. You have to purchase a minimum of $250 for some but that’s very doable. Our Costco bill was $400. But it had been 2 weeks since we were there. Definitely going to look into farmer to consumer options.