Economy
Boneless Chicken Scarce, Food Supply Chain ‘Breaking’ Amid Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a major toll on the North American meat industry, and boneless chicken in particular.
Food stores in the United States and Canada are stocking the shelves with chicken thighs and drumsticks, as opposed to the more popular boneless chicken legs and breasts, according to a Fortune report. The neighboring nations have reduced slaughter capacity due to novel coronavirus infections among workers at some of the largest meat processing plants. Some plants have even limited the types of cuts available to consumers.
President Donald Trump, citing his authority under the Defense Production Act, declared in an executive order Tuesday that “it is important that processors of beef, pork, and poultry (‘meat and poultry’) in the food supply chain continue operating and fulfilling orders to ensure a continued supply of protein for Americans.”
The food supply chain has been hurting since mid-March, when the COVID-19 outbreak intensified and shutdowns began. Tyson Foods (the nation’s second-largest processor of chicken, beef and pork) Chairman John Tyson warned Sunday that the U.S. “food supply chain is breaking” and that “there will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed.”
White House officials have indicated they will issue safety guidance for food plants to help protect their workers from the virus.
On Tuesday, the President received praise from The North American Meat Institute, the oldest and largest association representing the U.S. meat and poultry packing and processing industry.
“We are grateful to (President Trump) for protecting our nation’s food supply,” President and CEO Julie Anna Potts wrote in a statement. “The safety of the heroic men & women working in the meat & poultry industry is the 1st priority. And as it is assured, facilities should re-open.”
"We are grateful to @realDonaldTrump for protecting our nation’s food supply," said @MeatInstitute Pres. & CEO Julie Anna Potts. "The safety of the heroic men & women working in the meat & poultry industry is the 1st priority. And as it is assured, facilities should re-open.
— North American Meat Institute (@MeatInstitute) April 29, 2020
According to the Fortune report, “outbreaks have shut down almost a third of U.S. pork capacity.” Meanwhile, the Canadian company Cargill Inc. has halted production at its beef plant in High River, Alberta, which “accounts for about 40% of country’s processing capacity.”
As of Tuesday morning, more than 4,400 meatpacking workers nationwide have tested positive for the virus, with at least 18 workers succumbing to the virus, according to USA TODAY/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting tracking. Employees in at least 80 plants across 26 states have been infected with COVID-19. Additionally, there have been at least 28 closures of plants for at least one day.
Progressive California is digging itself deeper and deeper into a literal energy crisis. Last week, twenty members of the Air Quality Management District “approved the plan to phase out and ban gas-powered systems that emit nitrogen oxide, or NOx, and that contribute to air pollution. Three board members were absent, and one member abstained” writes National Review.
The ban will phase out the sale of new gas furnaces and water heaters in Northern California. As a result, it will “be costly for residents, will further burden an already stretched electric grid, and will have minimal environmental impact” energy experts and economists told National Review.
“The move is emblematic of California’s approach to energy, which involves ramping up the demand for electricity while gutting the state’s ability to meet its electricity needs,” they said.
Specifically, it is “a regressive policy that’s going to increase costs in a state that is already unaffordable, it’s going to do minimal in terms of reducing [greenhouse-gas] emissions, and it’s going to stress a problem that we already have no plan of addressing, which is [that] our grid is going to be unable to provide reliable electricity,” said Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow in business and economics at the California-based Pacific Research Institute who is studying the state’s electricity shortfall.
Winegarden said California already has a major housing-affordability problem. “And now we’re going to make it even less affordable,” he said. While there are state and federal incentives and subsidies for people to purchase and install electric heating systems, Winegarden, an economist, called it a “shell game.”
“Subsidies don’t get rid of the costs,” he said. “They just redistribute the costs.”
The board’s vote did not address natural-gas stoves because it doesn’t regulate indoor air pollution, notes National Review. However, earlier this year, the Biden administration’s Consumer Product Safety Commission was considering restrictions, and possibly a ban, on natural-gas stoves.
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