Fears are mounting that the coronavirus pandemic could disrupt the American food supply chain, after outbreaks interrupted work at meat processing plants and truckers expressed fears of traveling to hotspots.
The U.S. food supply chain is generally considered robust and well protected, with America producing enough domestically to feed its entire population. But disruptions in processing and distribution could cause temporary shortages of some items, or higher prices on grocery store shelves.
Tyson Foods was forced to suspend operations at a pork processing plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa this week, after more than 24 employees there tested positive for coronavirus.
'In an effort to minimize the impact on our overall production, we're diverting the livestock supply originally scheduled for delivery to Columbus Junction to some of our other pork plants in the region,' Tyson CEO Noel White said in a statement on Monday.
On Thursday, Smithfield Foods announced that it will close its processing plant near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after state officials said more than 80 employees there had tested positive for coronavirus.
The company will suspend operations in a large section of the plant on Saturday and completely shutter on Easter Sunday and Monday, the company said. During the shutdown, the plant will be thoroughly sanitized, and more physical barriers will be erected around workstations to isolate employees.
The plant employs some 3,700 workers, who will be paid for any scheduled shifts during the shutdown, and supplies Americans with nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day.
'Smithfield Foods is taking the utmost precautions and actions to ensure the health and wellbeing of our employees – with an even increased emphasis on our critical role in the ongoing supply of food to American families,' said Smithfield CEO Kenneth M. Sullivan in a statement.
'As an industry and as a nation, it is imperative that we continue to operate our feed mills, farms, plants and distribution centers,' he continued. 'Not operating is not an option. People need to eat.'
In an average month, Brian Barks, the CEO of Food Bank for the Heartland, spends about $73,000 buying food to distribute to people in need across Nebraska and western Iowa.
Last month, as the coronavirus was spreading across the U.S., he spent $675,000.
That's a nearly tenfold increase, because Food Bank for the Heartland, like food banks and pantries across the country, is facing a steep drop-off in the bread and butter of its operations: food donated by supermarkets and farms.
"The grocery stores, as we've seen across the country, the shelves are getting bare," Barks said. "They don't have extra to hand out to food banks. And what we're anticipating is that those donations will drop to zero."
When the national nonprofit Feeding America surveyed its affiliated food banks in mid-March, 92 percent said they were seeing increased need, while 64 percent said food donations had declined.
As a result, Barks and other food bank directors are facing a dual challenge in the era of COVID-19: drastically overhaul the way they do business — with fewer volunteers and less person-to-person contact — while trying to feed a surge of Americans newly facing food insecurity because of the virus.
"One of the huge concerns that we have here," Barks said, "is that many of the pantries that receive food from food banks are operated by seniors. And when those seniors say, 'You know what? I'm not going to risk it anymore,' those pantries close. Then what do you do? That is where approximately 70 percent of our food goes, through a network of pantries."
To provide food in the age of social distancing, many food banks and pantries have pivoted to low-contact, drive-thru food distribution.
At Feeding San Diego's emergency drive-thru distribution Saturday, vehicles lined up 14 deep in the SDCCU Stadium parking lot for boxes filled with produce and nonperishable food. About 1,200 vehicles were served until the food bank ran out in just under an hour.
"We're seeing as much as a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in demand at individual distribution locations," CEO Vince Hall said. "Many of the people that we're seeing have never before sought food assistance. Many of them aren't even sure what the process is. We get lots of very fundamental questions: 'Do I qualify? Is there somebody more deserving than me?'"
Hall said he, too, is being forced to rely on purchased food more than ever. "We usually rescue about 12 million pounds of food per year from grocery stores across our county," he said. "Well, consumer demand has depleted those grocery stores. And now there is almost nothing left for us to rescue off the loading dock."
In the last 2½ weeks, Feeding San Diego has bought 36 truckloads of food. That's more than the food bank normally purchases in a year.
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