{"id":1699579,"date":"2022-03-01T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=1699579"},"modified":"2024-11-06T13:09:48","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T19:09:48","slug":"food-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/food-shortages\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Items You Might Not Find in Your Grocery Store (and Why)"},"content":{"rendered":"Your next grocery run might not have a 100% hit rate. The pandemic upended global supply chains in 2020, causing long-term food shortages and other disruptions to our shopping trips. The chaos continues, though with different complications.\r\n\r\nOn October 1, thousands of dockworkers went on strike against U.S. ports. The strike has been suspended until January 15, but items shipped internationally by boat have been delayed. And climate change continues to affect the yield of many crops that comprise our grocery staples, like sugar and coffee.\r\n\r\nHere are products that might be uniquely hard to find and the reason behind each shortage.\r\n
In 2023, India, the second largest producer of the world's sugar, banned sugar exports in order to satisfy domestic demand after a season with bad growing conditions and a low-yield harvest. This year, Reuters reports<\/a> the ban is likely to extend another year, leaving much of the world to depend on the top sugar producer, Brazil. But drought conditions in Brazil have lowered its sugar yield, too, meaning that increased prices and possible shortages could soon be a reality.<\/p>\r\n\r\n In late July, Fortune reported<\/a> that Swiss chocolate brand Lindt predicted a global slowdown in the chocolate market due to high prices on chocolate caused by increasingly expensive cocoa beans. According to Fortune, prices of cocoa beans have nearly doubled in the last year as West Africa, a major exporter, experienced poor harvests from erratic rainfall and high temperatures. Bloomberg reported this month<\/a> that the harvest for the 2024-25 season is looking better than last year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n With the dockworkers' recent strike affecting 36 U.S. ports, this fruit hangs in the balance. Morning Brew explains<\/a> that bananas were quickly affected by the strike because they are shipped exclusively via boat (shipping by air is too expensive) and have a short shelf life, meaning grocery stores couldn't stockpile them in anticipation. In the short term, you might see fewer bananas at your local grocery store.<\/p>\r\n\r\n It’s hard to find toilet paper, bananas and other staples right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7917,"featured_media":1786941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[303838,303723,303797,303719],"categories-v2":[308448,308361,308432,308324],"coauthors":[343846],"acf":{"long_pin_file":false,"ncv_override_generic_settings_option":false,"ncv_autoplay_option":"","ncv_stickyplay_option":"","ncv_ads_option":"","ncv_mute_option":"","ncv_comscore_option":"","ncv_moat_option":"","ncv_autoplay_mobile_option":"","ncv_viewable_threshold_option":"","ncv_sticky_offset_option":"","ncv_autopause_option":"","ncv_sticky_offset_mobile_option":"","ncv_autopause_mobile_option":"","ncv_sticky_mobile_option":"","ncv_remove_player_option":false,"long_pin":""},"yoast_head":"\n Marnie Shure is a Chicago-based writer and editor with over a decade of comedy and food writing experience. For the past six years, she has covered restaurant reviews, recipes, breaking news, fast food taste tests, industry trends, and competitive eating. She most recently helmed The Takeout, a Midwest-based food website, and previously served as managing editor at The Onion. She also contributes to Food & Wine magazine.<\/p>","twitter":"","instagram":"","facebook":"","public_email":"","linkedin":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marnie-shure-13001819b","tiktok":"","youtube":"","location":"Chicago, IL","school_and_year":"Knox College","education":"Knox College, bachelor's in creative writing","highlights":"","expertise":"Food News","short_bio":"","user_nicename":"marnie-shure","type":"guest-author","nickname":""}},"images":{"2055819":{"image_url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/9-Items-You-Might-Not-Find-in-Your-Grocery-Store-and-Why_GettyImages-1235927155.jpg","post_data":{"ID":2055819,"post_author":"8067","post_date":"2024-10-03 09:33:08","post_date_gmt":"2024-10-03 14:33:08","post_content":"","post_title":"9 Items You Might Not Find In Your Grocery Store And Why Gettyimages 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Here are the items to keep an eye on, like eggs, bottled water, wheat and chocolate.","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"food shortages","dek":["It's hard to find toilet paper, bananas and other staples right now."],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699579"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7917"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1699579"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2057956,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699579\/revisions\/2057956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1786941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1699579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1699579"},{"taxonomy":"categories-v2","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories-v2?post=1699579"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1699579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}6. Chocolate<\/h3>\r\n
7. Bananas<\/h3>\r\n
\r\n
8. Sriracha<\/h3>\r\nWhile the LA Times reported in 2023<\/a> that Huy Fong Foods was affected by a chile pepper shortage due to drought in Mexico, its popular Sriracha hot sauce returned to store shelves in early 2024\u2014only to have production halted again in May. As reported by the Washington Post<\/a>, Huy Fong sent a letter to distributors in May notifying them that the peppers used in Sriracha failed to ripen in time for harvest thanks to ultra-high temps and dry conditions; the peppers' still-too-green shade would result in discolored hot sauce. Production was halted, with a return to shelves promised after Labor Day.\r\n\r\nWhile some shoppers have reported sightings of new Huy Fong shipments, sauces may have a brown or green tint thanks to the peppers used.\r\n
Why are these grocery items in short supply?<\/h2>\r\nA combination of climate change, political decision-making and labor concerns have all contributed to grocery staples being in short supply or available at high cost. It's unclear how soon each of these factors might be resolved. For example, once the dockworkers and the United States Maritime Alliance agreed to postpone the strike until January, the containers sitting at port began shipment to grocery stores. Something like the egg industry, where the avian flu outbreak has required culling more than 100 million birds, could take several seasons to right itself.\r\n\r\nAs seen during the pandemic, countless global factors impact the supply chain, and addressing each interconnected issue takes time. Shoppers can help by resisting the urge to panic-buy and purchase only what they need during times of scarcity.\r\n\r\n[cf]skyword_tracking_tag[\/cf]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"