Released For Publication - January 26, 2022
Amidst the current food shortages, don’t panic buy at the grocery store and don’t blame the shortages on just the trucker vaccine mandate.
That’s the advice of University of Guelph agribusiness research Dr. Simon Somogyi, who says there are a few factors that have come together creating the ‘perfect storm’ that has resulted in Canadian’s finding bare shelves at the grocery store.
“The trucker vaccine mandate is just compounding it,”
said Somogyi.
[ Dr. Simon Somogyi ]
Worker absenteeism across the food supply chain is one of the reason for the shortages and another reason is simply the season. Winter storms slow down store deliveries, and at this time of year, most fruits and vegetables in Canadian stores come from South America and the U.S.
In a recent interview with CBC’s The National, Somogyi said he doesn’t “think we’re going to be running out of food at grocery stores.”
There’s still plenty of food available, even if there may be low supplies of certain products or brands at stores. He also cautioned that panic buying will only make the situation worse.
Speaking to CBC Business, he said Canada’s food supply chain is always a delicate balancing act, as a relatively short growing season coupled with vast distances makes distributing supplies tricky even under ideal circumstances.
-30-
|
