
U.S. Meat Supply Is 'Perilously Close' to a Shortage, CEO Warns - aazaa
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/13/833110486/u-s-meat-supply-is-perilously-close-to-a-shortage-ceo-warns
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save_ferris
It's crazy how inaccessible testing still is in the US today. We're completely
deluding ourselves if we think we can just open everything back up in May or
June and everything will return to normal if we still haven't figured testing
out.

Who's going to want to risk themselves or their employees if we can't ensure
our own safety? Don't get me wrong, it's great that we're seeing signs of the
curve flattening. But we're still bungling the Covid response on a daily basis
by not making testing easier and more accessible.

~~~
gameswithgo
>Who's going to want to risk themselves or their employees if we can't ensure
our own safety?

LOTS of people will, and we can reduce the risk with masks. Provide them to
employees, require they wear them, maybe require customers wear them too.

~~~
mr_spothawk
I don't want a mask, or a test. I just want to be left alone to get a bad
cough once in a while.

Remind me again how many flu deaths we had this season?

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Animats
Flu (2020): About 600 deaths per day at peak, 14,000 total in US.

Coronavirus: 1400-2000 deaths per day now, 23,000 total so far, still
climbing.[2]

USA #1 in coronavirus deaths! [1]

[1] [https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest](https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-
latest)

[2] [https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-
death...](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-deaths-
united-states-each-day-2020-n1177936)

~~~
mr_spothawk
[https://twitter.com/PeterRQuinones/status/125020387852143820...](https://twitter.com/PeterRQuinones/status/1250203878521438208/photo/1)

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ancorevard
This is might be great news from a societal healthcare perspective. Just like
in England during WW2, meat was is short supply, and as a result people had to
resolve to eating more vegetables etc. The end results was a generation (for
those WW2 years) that never before or after has been as healthy.

Both life expectancy (excluding those in the military) and birth mortality
went down

It's a great study in epigenetics.

~~~
dsl
> and as a result people had to resolve to eating more vegetables etc.

The "etc." is key here. "Cannibalism by necessity" was more common during
World War 2 than most people realize. While it didn't hit the United States,
we are still uncovering documentation of it happening on both sides of the war
in Europe and Asia. You could make all sorts of dietary speculation about that
as well.

But the reality is war kills the weak by numerous means and - surprise -
you're left with a pretty healthy population.

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tekkk
I myself enjoy eating meat and while I need the protein, I've also understood
that the taste, is it the umami combined with protein and fat, is what makes
meat so delicious. So while I have experimented with some veggie food, mostly
just beans, I don't know how to get a similar tasting food as easily as just
buying sausages or frying chicken on a pan. Then add some rice and a nice
salad. There was a veggie restaurant I used to go who knew how to make really
good tasting veggie food, I wonder was it just using a lot of umami
replacements like stock pots.

On the other hand an excessive meat-eating without any exercise or other
reason than "because it tastes good" I don't understand. You are just clogging
up your arteries and really starving your body of important vitamins that you
need from veggies.

So while the situation is unfortunate, I am curious what those who enjoy their
daily steaks will do when the meat runs out. Buy canned meat? Or some low-meat
products like sausages? I guess they'll mostly just switch to fatty foods
instead, like burgers and french fries and whatnot.

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inieves
this is not as bad as it sounds, people can discover many other sources (also
lower cost) of protein. perhaps this leads to decreased meat consumption, not
at all a bad thing.

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russtrotter
If this was a simple change of preferences due to all the vegan/vegetarian
talking points, I could agree with your premise. The thing I wonder about C19
is that what kinds of agricultural processes involve humans ensuring that
beans/corn/greens/starches get from the fields into produce aisles and cans?
The same reasoning on shutting down production for infection risk applies
there as well.

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dsl
Meat has the shortest shelf life of foods, so any impact on the food supply
chain will be felt there first.

US Agriculture as a whole employs 22 million people. Of that, meet production
is about 500,000. Fruits, vegetables, and grains take an order of magnitude
more hands to make it to the table, so to speak.

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Jeema101
The press release seems very strange.

It announces that the plant is closing, yet in the statement by the CEO seems
like he doesn't want the plant to close... but was forced to maybe?

I wonder if maybe their business liability insurer threatened to drop them if
they remained open or something.

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mikecoles
Sounded like a business executive pitching for higher rates.

Buy local. There aren't any less animals being born or heading to the butcher.
Farmers around here are even skipping the middleman and selling directly.
Eggs, grains, milk, and vegetables can also be obtained from nearly the
source. If they can't, blame your local and state government for injecting
needless regulations.

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Fiveplus
If this is the case with plants across all the states, does this directly mean
meat prices are about to skyrocket?

