The coming MEAT shortage...

tofu

 

spam? wait, is this spam?

 

That's what vegetarianism is all about, Charlie Brown.

Always preferred tofu over meat.\\\\kris

 

I like heart, liver, tongue and tripe, seems to be easier to find lately

 

Make more low-meat meals. Chili, spaghetti, Nasi Goreng*, that sorta thing.

@Georgina Rudkus it doesn't always have to be the sky is falling, lol.

* My Mom used to conjure something up with that name. I do something that likely has little resemblance to the proper dish, but meh.

 

I might have to legally harvest an animal of some type this year, my family no longer has proper land holdings though, hmmm

if I liked squirrels and rabbits there are about 3 dozen in my yard.

 

I agree. There can be a silver lining in every cloud and a positive with every problem.

Wonderful time if that actual happens to eat a more plant based diet or many other healthier alternatives.

 

Save money, stay regular, what's not to like.

 

the ozone hole is closing

 

I'm on a plant-based diet. Everything I eat eats plants...

 

For me the article really isn't about whether you consume meat or are a vegetarian, it's about food chain supply. If you don't eat meat, well a lot of people do.

Reading the article I honestly don't know how to react. You have an introductory paragraph that say's this:

" Meat isn’t going to disappear from supermarkets because of outbreaks of the coronavirus among workers at U.S. slaughterhouses. But as the meat plants struggle to remain open, consumers could face less selection and slightly higher prices."

So there seems to be the message, and then the tone of the message. We seem to being told, worry about this, but don't worry about this.

Check your sources? This article was written in response to a letter evidently Tyson had printed in a full page ad, in the New York Times.
So this Don't Panic/Panic message is reaction to a message coming from a major meat processor. I haven't read Tyson's original letter.

I guess as just a meat eating consumer, I don't know if headlines like "Meat Shortage Coming" do any good. With an admittedly strained processing system, headlines like Meat Shortage Coming, only serve to guarantee runs on meat purchases and potential hoarding. How many people are going to go out and fill their freezer? So it snowballs.

But we're all in this together. I think meat processing has to be operated in a manner that strives to keep employees and consumers as safe as possible. Seems like that means processing plant closures.
When, probably not if that results in scarcity or limited choice or higher prices? Then I just react.
Just like any other commodity right now that is harder to obtain, I make decisions about both what is available and what I can afford.
If that means less Hamburger Helper and more Tuna Helper? So be it.
If it means dietary change to a more non-meat based diet? So be it. When I was younger I ate as a vegetarian for over a year. I can do it again.

What I don't like to see, is anything that causes a panic and possibly leads to hoarding of more resources. That doesn't help the situation.
So the question is, is it prudent or wise to "Warn" of potential shortages, or does the warning in of itself become a contributing factor in creating the shortage itself?
I suppose you have to warn consumers, and inform them of the realities. I just hate to see the panic and hoarding that usually results.

 

a simple per customer limit goes a long way, but supermarkets seem to struggle with this.

something new is always difficult, especially if you're in the 'give the customer what they want' business.

 

This possibility would apply to only packaged and processed meats.

For folks stuck at home, with any prior experience with home butchering and freezer wrapping meat from wild or domestic animals, and access to domestic livestock, the unpackaged supply should be abundant and cheaper than normal.

Dad's freezers have been a bit overstocked with grass-fed hormone-free beef from incidents where the custom butcher was more cost effective than the veterinarian. Absent such incidents, an animal occasionally gets specially selected. I'll be bringing some of it back from my upcoming elder- & herd-care shift there.

 

How about that fake meat?

 

Will this stop the shortage?
Trump to order meat plants to stay open as worker deaths rise - POLITICO

 

everything is fake meat. except meat

 

That should really encourage the low wage meat plant workers.

 

meat plants, is that an oxymoron?

 

Well, the ox is meat. The moron...I'll get back to you on that one.