Food processors and retailers are bracing for a second wave of the pandemic, expecting to be better prepared than the first but still expecting some shortages due to panic buying, Politico reports.
Grocers say they are generally able to handle the pandemic better as colder weather is pushing up the numbers of COVID cases. Some grocers, like H-E-B and Kroger, are bringing back purchasing limits on certain items, but they tend to be non-food products like toilet paper and cleaning supplies.
“We are hearing of retailers putting limits [on] certain goods, but this is a temporary tactic to curb demand,” Heather Garlich, senior vice president at FMI, the food industry association, told Politico.
On the plus side, many grocers have long established in-store safety measures, like Plexiglas barriers in front of cashiers, marking on floors for social distancing and extra sanitation. A big minus, however, is that there seems to be little prospect of a second round of economic stimulus from the federal government.
Thanksgiving saw a slight disruption in the supply of turkeys. With holiday gatherings smaller due to pandemic concerns, there was a flurry of consumer interest in smaller turkeys of 10 to 12 pounds.
A spokesperson for the Washington Food Industry Association said the demand for smaller turkeys significantly increased for Thanksgiving. However, Butterball CEO Jay Jandrain told Politico that its research showed that a quarter of consumers who said they wanted smaller turkeys ended up buying larger birds after all.
