# Where has our food supply line been disrupted? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 12, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655 "2020-04-12T22:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/1 "2020-04-12T22:08:56Z")
I’ve been reading many stories about farmers across the country having to destroy millions of pounds of crops and milk. Obviously food is still in high demand. Yet grocery stores are rationing items on the other end of things. Truck drivers are still on the road, and I don’t think that is where the problem is. So what is the point of failure in our food distribution system during this pandemic? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/2 "2020-04-12T22:18:00Z")
As far as milk, it’s because industrial customers, such as schools and restaurants, are shut down. The packaging they buy is not compatible with retail sales. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/3 "2020-04-12T22:27:32Z")
you have retail food (supermarkets) commercial (restuarnats) institutional (schools, hospitals, nursing homes, etc) supermarkets are open the the rest not so much ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/4 "2020-04-12T22:39:48Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > you have retail food (supermarkets) > commercial (restuarnats) > institutional (schools, hospitals, nursing homes, etc) > > supermarkets are open the the rest not so much How complicated would it be for supermarkets to “pick up the slack?” It’s obvious the demand is high. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/5 "2020-04-12T22:47:32Z")
[Smithfield has closed a US processing plant](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-meatpacking/smithfield-shutting-u-s-pork-plant-indefinitely-warns-of-meat-shortages-during-pandemic-idUSKCN21U0O7) in South Dakota due to COVID-19 infection among their employees. (Reuters) > [@](#): > > Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Sunday it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a rash of coronavirus cases among employees and warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for grocers. > > Slaughterhouse shutdowns are disrupting the U.S. food supply chain, crimping availability of meat at retail stores and leaving farmers without outlets for their livestock. So there is a knock-on effect in both directions. I’m sure this could be an issue for quite a number of food processing plants. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/6 "2020-04-12T23:05:46Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > How complicated would it be for supermarkets to “pick up the slack?” It’s obvious the demand is high. Packaging. Restaurants don’t get those half gallon or gallon jugs. Not many people are gong to pay the high per unit costs of those little boxes schools buy. Plus making room for the new containers. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/7 "2020-04-12T23:34:39Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Packaging. Restaurants don’t get those half gallon or gallon jugs. Not many people are gong to pay the high per unit costs of those little boxes schools buy. > Plus making room for the new containers. Even if the milk packagers could get the cartons. My employer cannot acquire enough cartons to keep up with the retail demand and neither we nor our retail distributors and customers are equipped to handle plastic bags instead of cartons. Even before this, Amazon and other online stores were squeezing the market for plain cardboard boxes. We switched production runs quite a bit when we ran out of packaging. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/8 "2020-04-12T23:45:02Z")
they probably cut back milk output for the summer when schools are closed (except for year round schools. ) Around here some places that normally only sell food to businesses/schools etc. are selling to anyone now if you can pick it up. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/9 "2020-04-13T00:07:07Z")
Locally, Codfish is unavailable. Dunno why. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-our-food-supply-line-been-disrupted/851655/10 "2020-04-13T00:10:12Z")
Smithfield … the world’s biggest pork processor … a rash of coronavirus cases Meanwhile Adee, the world’s largest beekeeper, has a swarm of cases; Hershey’s the world’s largest maker of chocolate coated peanuts, has a cluster of cases; but the American Sprinkle Co had only a scattering of cases.