Grocery Industry Prepares for Bird Flu
|
(AP)
Customers wait for vendors to help
them Friday,
Feb. 16, 2007, at a poultry market
in Bangkok,... |
By
Timberly Ross
OMAHA,
Neb. (AP) - Stocking up on food
is as simple as a trip to the grocery
store, a veritable land of plenty for
Americans.
"It's so easy when you have three
grocery stores in your vicinity,"
said Becky Jones of Omaha, who stocks
up once a week for her family of three.
"You think: how could you possibly
not get what you needed?"
But will fresh fruits and vegetables,
meat, bread, milk and other household
staples still be available if the U.S.
is hit with an anticipated bird flu pandemic
“If state and federal officials
urge people to stay away from public places,
like restaurants and fast-food establishments,
will they be able to get the groceries
they need to prepare food in their homesæ
For Jones, the prospect of not having
access to food is frightening. She said
most people, herself included, only have
food on hand for three or four days.
Unlike other critical infrastructure sectors
like water, energy and health care, the
food industry isn't getting much help
from state and federal governments when
it comes to disaster planning. That puts
the burden on individual supermarket chains
and wholesalers to deal with a potentially
large number of sick workers that could
affect store operations and disrupt the
food supply.
"The industry is actively thinking
through contingency plans, so if it should
happen, our members would be well prepared
to deal with it," said Tim Hammonds,
president of the Food Marketing Institute,
an advocate for grocery wholesalers and
retail supermarkets nationwide.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services estimates a third of the population
could fall ill if the H5N1 strain of the
bird flu mutates into a form that spreads
easily from person to person. It's not
clear if that will ever happen and no
human cases of bird flu have ever been
traced to eating properly cooked poultry
or eggs.
But if a pandemic emerges, the Department
of Homeland Security projects worker absenteeism
to reach 40 percent or more over a prolonged
period. Hammonds said retail food stores
would have to contend with worker shortages
and disruptions in the supply chain.
The food and agriculture industry is listed
among 13 critical-infrastructure sectors
that the Department of Homeland Security
says must remain functional during a pandemic.
"Having those critical facilities
open - like power, water, food - becomes
very important" during a national
disaster such as a pandemic, said Keith
Hanson, an outreach coordinator for Nebraska's
Center for Biopreparedness Education.
Hanson works with local businesses, helping
test their preparedness plans. He will
speak about the importance of that testing
at the Public Health Preparedness Summit
in Washington, an annual conference designed
to help public health workers prepare
for emergencies. This year's meeting started
Friday and ends Feb. 23.
Hanson said continued operations of power
and water utilities are of the utmost
importance, but grocery stores rank highly
too. That's because people today keep
less food on hand, opting instead to make
weekly trips to the grocery store.
Americans are also dining out more than
they have in the past. Money spent on
food prepared outside the home rose from
34 percent of total food costs in 1974
to about 50 percent in 2004, according
to a report by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
The Food Marketing Institute's Hammonds
said a widespread pandemic will likely
cause food consumption to shift away from
restaurants and fast-food establishments
and toward in-home eating, causing a greater
demand for groceries.
"That means stores would need to
be prepared for an increase in volume,"
he said.
Hy-Vee, a West Des Moines, Iowa-based
supermarket chain that operates more than
200 stores in the Midwest, does not have
a disaster plan developed in the event
of avian flu. But company spokeswoman
Chris Friesleben said the company keeps
abreast of the illness through the Food
Marketing Institute.
"The food supply is essential to
the well-being of the community,"
said Hammonds.
"We've been through
a lot about what we need to do as a supermarket."
That includes urging wholesalers and retailers
to talk with their suppliers about alternative
sources for their products and to anticipate
what products will be in high demand in
a pandemic situation, such as medicines
and food staples.
Stephanie Childs, a spokeswoman for Omaha-based
ConAgra Foods Inc., said a company task
force was formed more than a year ago
to develop an operating plan in the event
of a national disaster. The plan specifically
addresses bird flu, examines areas that
could be affected and how the company
could respond, she said.
ConAgra is one of the nation's largest
food companies, with brand names that
include ACT II popcorn, Banquet, Chef
Boyardee, Marie Callender's, Egg Beaters
and Orville Redenbacher's.
The company employs about 27,000 people,
but Homeland Security projections indicate
that number could fall to 16,200 during
a pandemic.
Childs said such worker shortages and
difficulties with suppliers getting their
products to ConAgra plants were among
the potential problems the company identified.
She did not disclose how the company would
address those issues.
The federal government and public health
agencies are urging people to stock up
on nonperishable food, like canned goods
and dried fruit, to ensure they have to
food to eat during a pandemic.
Jones, the Omaha woman, said that's a
proactive approach, but was worried that
people with limited incomes may not be
able to afford a large stockpile of food.
She stopped short of calling for the government
to oversee the food industry's pandemic
planning, but said, "If they see
a crisis that is on the horizon, they
do have to give us some type of warning."
On the Net:
Food
Marketing Institute
Center
for Biopreparedness Education
Pandemic
flu information from the U.S. government
Google
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Bird Flu - Download an Bird Flu Brochure.
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Bird
Flu: What You Need - Meet US Gov. Guidelines
for Flu: Protection, Sanitation,
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