South Florida could be on brink of a meat shortage
Joe Studiale feels lucky his 71-year-old restaurant, Tropical Acres Steakhouse in Dania Beach, is equipped with a big storage freezer. After meat processing plants across the United States shut down in recent weeks, Studiale’s four meat distributors, including Sysco and Cheney Bros., warned him that closures would cause meat shortages in South Florida and soaring prices for cuts of beef and pork.
“Our meat purveyors told us their meat inventory is running low,” says Studiale, a fourth-generation co-owner of the family-operated Tropical Acres. “This week we’re trying to stockpile by buying 50 cases of tenderloins and strips with the idea things might run out.”
Across the country, more than 20 meatpacking plants have closed temporarily after turning
into COVID-19 hot spots, sickening at least 5,000 factory workers and sparking bottlenecks in shipping fresh meat. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order forcing meat plants to remain open, and classifying meat production as “critical infrastructure.”
But the shortages have cascaded down the nation’s meat-supply chain to South Florida’s wholesalers and supermarkets, where prices have already spiked for certain cuts of beef and pork.
Other groceries are bracing for meat shortages within a matter of weeks, including Publix, along with smaller chains like Doris Italian Market.
“While not every cut/variety of meat will be available every day, there will be options for our consumers,” Publix spokesperson Maria Brous says of expected meat shortfalls.
“These meat shortages are happening but the problem is not production – there’s plenty of animals available – but because our slaughter plants are running at 70 percent capacity” due to plant closures, says Chris Prevatt, a meat supply-chain expert and a beef, cattle, and forage economist for the University of Florida.
“We’ve got three weeks of significant stoppages and not enough healthy workers to process the cattle,” Prevatt says. “That’s why you’re seeing chickens and hogs and cows being euthanized across the United States. “Lower supply is driving up prices everywhere.”
Nationwide, the United State Department of Agriculture’s weekly cattle harvests are down 29.5 percent and pork harvests are down 17.5 percent since the end of March compared to the same period in February. “That’s where the shortage will come from,” Prevatt says.
John Alfano, president of Doris Italian Market, says meat shortages are already hitting shoppers’ wallets. For example a pound of ground beef, on sale for $3.49 a month earlier, costs $5.99 now, he says. Eye round roasts surged from $4.99 to $8.99 per pound, while shoulder roasts increased from $5.49 to $8.99.
“Our meat buyer is tearing his hair out right now,” says Alfano, whose chain buys meat from Hormel Foods and from distributors Quirch Foods and Cargill. “He wants to make sure we have supply. We’re not going to be immune to the meat shortages going on nationwide.”
The problem, he says, is that supermarket chains like Doris only purchase meat two to-three weeks in advance. Beyond that time frame, Alfano has no idea how much meat will be available from suppliers.
“If these plants don’t start re-opening, there’s obviously not going to be enough meat to around,” Alfano says. “Pork and beef could double in price next week. By the time we go through our product, we hope that the meat packing plants that were closed will re-open.”
Publix would not disclose how meat prices may increase at its grocery stores, and a spokesperson for Winn-Dixie did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication. But Brous, Publix’s spokesperson, says the chain is well-equipped to handle meat shortages.
“Our suppliers have multiple plants, so if [meat plant] closures occur, we are able to move orders to a different facility, or potentially to a different supplier,” Brous says. “Supply and demand is a factor.”