Meat shortages may be coming at grocery stores soon. Here’s why
CNNNew York CNN Business — The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on the supply chain, hitting everyone from farmers to automakers to retailers. “We definitely can see shortage of products in the grocery stores,” said Jeff Sindelar, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences with an expertise in meat processing. There’s “no question” that people who work in meat processing facilities are stationed more closely together than most workers at other food manufacturers, said Steve Meyer, an economist with commodity firm Kerns and Associates. Major meat processors like Smithfield, Tyson and others say they’ve put measures in place, like temperature checks and acrylic glass to encourage social distancing in some areas and to help keep their workers safe. But it described the working conditions as “inescapable realities about our industry.” The economics of meat processing Meat processors could have initially set up their assembly lines with more space in between each person.