Posted on 10/20/2021 7:25:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
n Denver, public-school children are facing shortages of milk. In Chicago, a local market is running short of canned goods and boxed items.
But there’s plenty of food. There just isn’t always enough processing and transportation capacity to meet rising demand as the economy revs up.
More than a year and a half after the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life, the supply of basic goods at U.S. grocery stores and restaurants is once again falling victim to intermittent shortages and delays.
“I never imagined that we’d be here in October 2021 talking about supply-chain problems, but it’s a reality,” said Vivek Sankaran, chief executive officer of Albertsons Companies, who echoed the laments of other retailers. “Any given day, you’re going to have something missing in our stores, and it’s across categories.”
“We’ve been struggling with supply-chain issues with different items since school started,” said Theresa Hafner, the executive director of food services at Denver Public Schools. “It just continues to pop up. It’s like playing whack-a-mole.”
In Chicago, Dill Pickle Food Co-Op ran out of certain dry goods because its two main distributors haven’t been sending orders in full in recent weeks.
“Early in the pandemic, panic buying was the cause of many of the out-of-stock situations that grocers experienced,” general manager I’Talia McCarthy said in an email to store owners this month. “Although the food industry was able to somewhat rebound, the sustained nature of the pandemic, combined with the slow pace of vaccination globally and the recent surge caused by the delta variant, have resurfaced the problem.”
The shortages aren’t as acute as they were earlier in the pandemic.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
"There's plenty of food in the supply chain, but certain items may be harder to get at certain times due to a nationwide shortage of labor impacting manufacturers, shippers and retailers. Additionally, lack of enforcement of antitrust laws in the grocery marketplace have allowed dominant retailers to secure more favorable terms and ample supplies of high-demand goods while leaving many smaller retailers with limited selections or, in some cases, bare shelves," Jones said.
Ben & Jerry flavors
This frozen treat is usually the perfect dessert, but in an email on Sept. 14, Ben & Jerry's parent company, Unilever, cited labor shortages as the reason for reducing the amount of flavors produced. The company said it will focus on producing its most popular flavors. Phish Food lovers, you have nothing to worry about.
Carbonated drinks
Fertilizer plants, which lead to the production of carbon dioxide, had to reduce their output because of rising costs, causing shortages in food and other products, Per Hong, senior partner at consulting firm Kearney, told CNBC. "We almost certainly will be faced with a global shortage of CO2 that is used widely. CO2 is used extensively in the food value chain from inside packaged food to keep it fresher longer, for dry ice to keep frozen food cold during delivery, to giving carbonated beverages their bubbles," he said.
Chicken
People have substituted fast food for home-cooked comfort meals, causing chicken to become scarce. In May, suppliers announced a shortage of chicken, which limited some restaurants' menu items and increased the price in stores.
Coffee
Brazil is a supplier of most of the world's coffee, but the country has been experiencing a drought that slowed production and transportation of coffee beans.
Diapers
Households with small children should be aware that diaper prices have increased because of increases in prices of raw materials, shipping delays and container shortages, according to Business Insider. Diaper manufacturers Proctor & Gamble (Pampers and Luvs) and Kimberly-Clark (Huggies) announced price increases in early April.
Fish sticks
A customs dispute at the U.S.-Canada border has kept the Alaska pollock, which is used for fish sticks and sandwiches, stored across the border. Cross-border violations have halted transportation of the fish and may cause permanent seafood supply chain problems.
Frozen meals
Rodney Holcomb, food economist at Oklahoma State University, told ABC27 News that concerns over the delta coronavirus variant have some customers buying more than usual, as Americans saw at the beginning of the pandemic, in case there is another lockdown.
Heinz ketchup packets
With restrictions on indoor dining, most people switched to pickup, takeout and delivery orders, limiting the supply of individual ketchup packets. Kraft Heinz confirmed to USA TODAY in early April that it was working to increase supplies, such as adding manufacturing lines that would increase production by about 25% for a total of more than 12 billion packets a year.
Marie Callender's pot pies
The holidays call for comfort foods – even if you aren't the one making it. But expect shortages of Marie Callender's 10-ounce and 15-ounce pot pies. According to parent company Conagra, it would be allocating shipments through Nov. 29 after it "encountered packing material challenges from our tray and carton supplier resulting in a production interruption," CNN Business reports.
McCormick Gourmet spices
With the holidays around the corner, meals being prepared across the nation may be missing a very important ingredient: seasonings. McCormick Gourmet spices are short of packaging supplies due to pandemic-related shutdowns. Lori Robinson, a spokesperson for McCormick, told CNN Business, "Gourmet is the only product line impacted by this packaging shortage" but can be substituted with their regular spices.
Rice Krispie Treats
This lunchbox treat's production has been "below service expectations," as stated in an email sent to suppliers. The shortage persists as Kellogg's workers remain on strike, even though production lines have restarted as replacement workers were brought in.
Sour Patch Kids
In an Oct. 1 email to a grocery distributor, parent company Mondelez says there is "limited availability" on some of their items such as Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish candy and Toblerone chocolate "due to supply chain constraints."
Toilet paper
This is something that isn't new to the pandemic shortage list, but the industry has yet to keep up with the demand. The shortage stems from lumber's raw material, wood pulp, which is used to make toilet paper. Fox Business reports only 60% of orders are being shipped out. Some retailers, such as Costco, have reinstated purchasing limits.
Persistent disruptions in supply chains continue to upended daily life as supplies of essential goods at grocery stores continue to dwindle.
"I never imagined that we'd be here in October 2021 talking about supply-chain problems, but it's a reality," Vivek Sankaran, CEO of supermarket chain Albertsons Cos., told Bloomberg. "Any given day, you're going to have something missing in our stores, and it's across categories."
Food suppliers are stocking up on extra supplies to mitigate panic hoarding. Saffron Road, a producer of frozen meals, is increasing inventory to about four months instead of two months.
"People are hoarding," said CEO and founder Adnan Durrani. "What I think you'll see over the next six months, all prices will go higher."
Food producers are also complaining about the challenges in the supply chain continuing and will unlikely wane by the end of this year, suggesting these issues will continue into early 2022.
Last week, one of the top trending topics on Twitter was the hashtag #EmptyShelvesJoe, referring to Biden's inability to normalize supply chains that have resulted in empty store shelves at supermarkets.
America is becoming more and more like a third-world nation as shortages and soaring food inflation crush the working poor.
Coffee, sugar, soups, even spam this year, beans, macaroni & cheese, canned spaghetti sauce etc etc
“There just isn’t always enough processing and transportation capacity to meet rising demand as the economy revs up.”
Let’s play “Spot The Bull****”, shall we?
L
It’s your fault, you deplorable hoarders!
Setting up excuses. (and blaming you)
My daily warning to CPAP users...be sure to have extra distilled water on hand or a gizmo that makes it. I am going to keep 4 jugs on hand at a time for now
I’m hoarding dish soap.
The price of spam is outrageous! !!
So the problem is not a supply chain operating at 50% as the population increases by millions of illegals. It’s the result of Americans hording. That makes as much sense as biden getting 81M votes.
They can say whatever they want about Trump, but other than toilet paper, the shelves were never bare once we all got over the initial shock of the pandemic.
This occurred on Biden’s watch and it’s going to get worse on his watch.
The left owns this. They’ve fiddled around with climate change hysteria and other pet projects while our supply chain has crumbled.
Our stupid Transportation Secretary decided to stay on paternity leave for a baby he adopted, for goodness sake, while ask this happened.
There have been revolutions for this type of incompetence in the past.
A once productive, prosperous and efficient America is now a nation where “below service expectations” has become the norm.
Duh, prices are going up. Why wouldn’t I stock up on Flour, Salt, Sugar, bread yeast, coffee, etc?
If I buy it and can store it easily, I save by just cutting out the inflation of the stupid trillions of dollars of stealing. Buy now and save for later just like my grandparents did.
To me, the price of spam has always been outrageous. Considering what’s actually in one of those cans I would figure it be worth about a quarter of what they actually charge for it. That’s why I haven’t eaten spam in decades.
This whole thing has a manufactured feel to it. All part of the great reset.
You know, even down to the value of used cars, we’re turning into the old Soviet union. History repeats, but never identically. We don’t need gulags. All we have to do is cancel people.
You know, even down to the value of used cars, we’re turning into the old Soviet union. History repeats, but never identically. We don’t need gulags. All we have to do is cancel people.
Shortage: “Marie Callender’s pot pies”
Well, that’s the end of me, I guess; they’re just too darn complicated to make from scratch! ;)
https://www.allrecipes.com/article/homemade-pot-pies/
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