Since the beginning of the pandemic, the world has been impacted significantly. While a lot
of companies have landed on their feet and have continued to produce food, there are
others that might be in deeper trouble. Here are 10 Upcoming Food Shortages You Need To
Know About.
Let's Get Baking!
Since lockdowns have become the new normal, people have had to find new ways to pass the
time at home alone or with their families. Video games and television have all been popular
ways to stay busy, but the true newly found hobby has been baking. Thanks to social media,
people have been able to share their most recent sweet successes and bitter failures
in their kitchens. It's all fun and games, but baking also means using a lot of necessary
ingredients, like flour and yeast. Wheat flour, of course, is the basic ingredient
in most baked goods, from bread to cookies to pie crust. And what happens when a lot
of people all need the same thing? A shortage. Since at least April of 2020, news outlets have
been reporting on shortages of baking flour across the United States. A lot of people
would find empty shelves at the supermarket when they went looking for some other basic
baking things like sugar and vanilla. This mostly happened due to people hoarding supplies
because of the general panic the beginning of the lockdowns created. Some stores, such
as Costco, had no choice but to implement rationing, such as allowing only one bag of
flour per customer, until supplies could catch up with the demand. Some suppliers experienced
huge demands for these products that they scrambled to fill, only to experience severe
drop-offs in demand. This uncertainty led some producers to be a bit circumspect about
ramping up production too fast, which could lead to an eventual real shortage. As we slide
into 2021, the pandemic continues, but if we can slow down our homemade bakery factory,
we should be able to tough it out with just enough flour.
A Can Of Corn
The expression "a can of corn" means a very easy task, but over the past year, getting
your hands on an actual can of corn has not been an easy task. Most canned corn sold
in grocery stores is made from sweet corn that is, unfortunately, only harvested once
every year. This means that once it's gone, it's gone for the year. You see where this
is going, right? A lot of canned food items, in general, have been harder to come by because,
well, everyone is at home cooking. Things like canned corn, peas, beans are staples
used in a lot of recipes from chowders and casseroles to enchiladas and Shepard's Pie.
But it isn't just for recipes, it is also often a side dish accompanying many traditional
American meals and was normally found in everyone's pantry kitchen cabinet. The pandemic changed
all this at least for a time. So, even if you had no trouble finding a can of your favorite
corn before, things are about to change. Fortunately, canned corn is not a necessity like toilet
paper or even flour, so you’ll still be able to cook somewhat normally, but it does
show just how much people really didn’t have the opportunity to cook for themselves
before all of this happened.
Soups Off
Soup is classic comfort food, especially during months of cold weather, when a bowl of steaming
soup can warm you up like nothing else. But, as it did with many other things, the pandemic
affected the availability of canned soups. Campbell's brand soup and its related canned products
saw an unprecedented demand at the beginning of 2020 and were not able to keep up with
it until they ramped up production after a few months. Many businesses and even entire
industries have been damaged by the state and local governments in the US because of
the prolonged stay at home orders, but since canned soup is something we eat at home, companies
like Campbell's saw big profits. The Campbell Soup Company reported exceptional earnings
for 2020 and said it made big inroads with Millennials. The older generation were already
sold on the value of canned soups but younger people needed a bit of prodding. Being stuck
at home is a lot easier for the stomach when you have a shelf full of canned soups you
can rely on in a pinch. Our culture had been pushing the value of fresh and even farm to
table foods, which are great under normal circumstances, but the circumstances have
not been normal and people have had to go back to the basics of canned soup.
Meatless Months?
Wealthy societies in the West have gotten used to having abundant supplies of a wide
range of meats. Beef, chicken, turkey, pork, and fish are usually in plentiful supply when
visiting the supermarket. But during the pandemic, a number of concerns caused some temporary
shortages. These shortages weren't due to increased demand, but rather from meat processing
plants having to cut production, and in some cases, shut down production completely. The
media has reported on several cases of the virus spreading through meat processing plants
in the United States, most notably, at some of the Tyson Foods facilities. Tyson Foods
is Americas' biggest meat processor, so if they have a problem, pretty much every American
meat-eater will have a problem. The shortages were short-lived, partially because the Federal
Government insisted the plants reopen to meet the demand, but it could always happen again. Some
areas of the country saw an increase in prices as supplies dropped, but this too was temporary.
While consumers and the meat industry dodged the permanent shortage bullet, the last year
has shown how vulnerable the food supply can be when an unexpected strain is placed on
it. Hopefully, this will serve as a wake-up call to politicians and the industry to prepare
contingencies so if something similar happens again, we will all be better prepared for
it.
Day Drinking
With millions of people staying at home instead of going to work, it shouldn't be surprising
that many of them started drinking a little more than they would normally. Just like
food companies, breweries were not prepared for the sudden surge in worldwide demand.
More demand and the same supply inevitably means there will be shortages of your favorite
beer. And sometimes, it isn't even the beer itself that is lacking, but the aluminum cans.
With people staying home, cans of beer became a very hot commodity indeed. The big breweries
like Coors and Anheuser-Busch were able to exert their power in the beer market to scoop
up most of the available cans. The small breweries had to scramble for what was left and some
were left with beer to sell without cans to fill. Some breweries have even been able to
use glass and metal containers to fill their orders, but aluminum cans remain the most
coveted containers during the pandemic. The beer industry had to adapt to the new reality
and produce more products and find ways to get them to their customers. Who would have
thought that aluminum would have been a good investment back at the beginning of 2020?
If lockdowns keep happening, perhaps aluminum will be in short supply right alongside beer.
Maybe brewers can go back to the old days when beer was stored and shipped, not in aluminum
kegs, but ones made out of wood?
Save Your Seeds
A few hundred years ago, a lot of people grew their own food on large farms or just a small
patch of land. Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots were common homegrown foods used for
both commercial sales and personal consumption. Today, many people have vegetable and fruit
gardens, but used more as a hobby than as a way to feed their families. With the arrival
of the virus, food security had become a big concern. People have witnessed empty shelves
and endless grocery store lines, and suddenly, having a garden seemed like a smart idea. But, having
a garden also means buying seeds, so the run on seeds of all types led to shortages.
The gardening community had ways around this because many of them had already been saving
and trading some seeds on the side for a long time. These people are usually called "seed
swappers" and there is a network called Seed Savers Exchange where these people can search
for seeds and trade them with others through social media. A growing number of public libraries
have also stepped up and started seed programs to help people connect with others. The basic
advice new gardeners receive is to save their seeds so they'll have some for the next growing
season, but this isn't always sufficient. Growing a garden seemed like a good way to
spend some extra time, but with the shortages we've seen, having your own personal garden
could also mean important self-sustainability.
Snack Pack
For most people, a "snack pack" may conjure images of little cans of chocolate pudding.
However, snacking has come a long way since then. In fact, snacking is now a pretty big
part of our culture. We can snack all day long, every day, instead of eating regular
meals if we want. Snack foods are almost as diverse as our imaginations will allow. But
what would happen if snacks became almost impossible to find? Everything from chips,
nuts candies, and fruits are considered snacks by many of us. The food industry has gone
to a lot of trouble and expense to develop and market "snack foods" for you to indulge
in at a moment's notice. Little 100 calorie bags of cookies and pretzels beckon to us
from the cupboard. Or at least, they did until the virus spread across the globe. People
were forced to stay mostly at home for months at a time and this put a severe strain on
the food industry and the supply chain that it relies on to get products to the grocery
store in a reliable manner. Suddenly, this process was disrupted and our little packages
of trail mix and crackers were disappearing from store shelves. One answer to this was
for people to bake their own cookies and other baked goods but as we saw earlier, this created
another set
of shortages.
Crying Over Spilled Milk
Milk is normally one of those things we take for granted. It seems to always be there,
in the fridge, whether it's for our cereal or our coffee. The problems milk producers
had was somewhat unique during the pandemic. While most shortages have been caused by a
surge in demand, dairy farmers have had to dump millions of gallons of milk because of
challenges faced by the trucking and logistic companies that transport it. This caused some
shortages in regular milk, but there is another milk shortage in the offing. Canned milk and
Ultra High Temperature processed milk can be stored for relatively long periods without
refrigeration. The continued shut downs have caused people to stock up on staples if not
outright hoard certain items. Canned milk has experienced shortages and likely will
continue to be an item of concern. Another option for people who want to have milk on
hand is dried or powdered milk that can be mixed with water. Although powdered milk is
not known for its taste, it has decent nutritional value and can also be added to regular milk
for extra protein and other nutrients. While supply chains have been able to adjust and
people have access to milk without interruptions, regular dairy products are very perishable
so given all the disruptions we've experienced over the last year, you should probably make
preparations because more shortages are likely coming.
H2 Woe!
Water is of course necessary for life, so technically, you could say it is a staple
though it is not a food. It shouldn't be surprising that in the first uncertain days of the virus
becoming worldwide, many people made a run to their local grocery stores. One of the
products they grabbed first was bottled water. This is a product we should all keep extra
supplies of anyway because, in the case of an earthquake, hurricane, or other unforeseen
emergencies, the availability of fresh water from your taps will not always be guaranteed.
Most of the bottled water shortages were a supply chain issue of keeping store shelves
stocked - there was never an actual shortage of it. It is important to remember that clean
water was always available from our faucets during these times. Perhaps the only products
more in demand than bottled water have been toilet paper and Clorox wipes. The government
of the United States has told people that there was no need to stockpile bottled water,
but you really can't blame some people for being a little skeptical of some
of their pronouncements. The pandemic may not have caused a serious shortage, but if
there is an unforeseen disaster, the regular municipal water supply could very quickly
lead to empty store shelves.
SPAM!
A lot of people make fun of SPAM, but it is actually a popular food. SPAM is a fully cooked
meat, so it can be eaten directly from the can without any heating. This canned pork
product debuted in 1937 but really gained notoriety a few years later due to the demand
posed by World War II. SPAM is particularly popular in certain tropical areas such as
Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Honolulu even has a SPAM day with a parade. When the pandemic
hit and many governments reacted with a stay at home order, people began to experience
food shortages. SPAM experienced a 70% jump in sales in the winter and spring of 2020.
This kind of increased demand is nearly impossible to keep up with, at least not in the short
term. Hormel, the company that makes SPAM, put out a news release in September saying
customers could possibly experience shortages. The company explained that some of the meat
processing plants where Hormel gets its pork had to shut down for various amounts of time
because of health concerns related to the virus. The company has promised its customers
to look into ways to increase the production of SPAM and prevent any future shortages.
Let's hope that the lockdowns don't last very far into 2021 and further shortages don't
materialize so that people can eat SPAM whenever they want.
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