How the Coronavirus is Affecting Food Processing
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How do you feed a sick nation?
That’s the question facing the American food processing industry, and its partners along the supply chain, during what is turning out to be an unprecedented national trauma. The “coronacrisis” is threatening disruptions to the labor pool, the supply chain and the entire U.S. economy on a scale that has rarely been seen – and, as of press time, there is no certainty when or where it will stop.
The stakes are almost unthinkably high. "Everyone is on this 24/7 in some way,” says a spokesperson for one food processor. “Keeping the food plants open is critical. Toilet paper will look like a day at the beach if people believe food availability is in jeopardy.”
But from the very outset, members of the food retail supply chain were included among “essential services,” right up there with health care providers and police. Food and beverage plants were exempted from business shutdowns and their workers from gathering laws. A good thing, considering the initial wave of panic buying sent most food plants into overdrive to restock empty grocery shelves.
Click here to read the full article from Food Processing.
