Europe Grapples With CO2 Shortage

Europe is suffering from a chronic shortage of industrial carbon dioxide, with implications for food and beverage processing from poultry to beer.

The shortage is coming about because the rising cost of natural gas in Europe is causing companies that produce fertilizer and other chemicals to cut back on production. The main source of industrial CO2 is fertilizer production, of which it is a byproduct.

Several European processors are being affected by the shortage. The Carlsburg brewery in Gdansk, Poland, said Aug. 25 that it could soon cut back or even halt beer production unless normal CO2 supplies resume. In Italy, leading mineral water companies, including the Sanpellegrino unit of Nestlé, have reduced production due to a CO2 shortage. In England, a shutdown by the country’s main fertilizer processor has made the beverage industry ask the government for a contingency plan to keep CO2 flowing.

Carbon dioxide is used in multiple ways in food processing besides putting the fizz into beverages. Frozen CO2 (dry ice) is used in processing meats and other foods and in cooling for transport. CO2 is also used in humane slaughter systems for chickens and other animals – a practice that is increasingly mandated throughout the EU.