Thread by @LizSpecht

This problem isn't going away anytime soon.

"Industry experts, analysts and a union that represents meatpacking plant workers say challenges with the country’s meat supply chain will likely linger as long as the pandemic does." 1/6
cnbc.com/2020/05/07/her…

“Until the world gets its arms around coronavirus, this is the model we’re going to have to work under — or we’re going to sacrifice these humans for the sake of a cheeseburger." - Mark Lauritsen, United Food and Commercial Workers 2/6

And the ol' carcass balancing problem rears its head yet again:

"People also want different cuts of meat when they’re doing the cooking... For example, chicken wings are typically eaten at restaurants instead of cooked at home, so demand has dropped during the pandemic." 3/6

And the inherent challenges of supply chains with months- or years-long lead times for production:

"If they can’t move food today, they can’t start... the breeding for the food that’s going to be needed months from now... You’re seeing this sort of back-up in the system...” 4/6

Rather than the system being able to nimbly switch product categories, it has to ask consumers to switch:

"If you’re flexible on eating between chicken, pork and beef, we constantly have one of those items or two of those..." - Kroger CEO 5/6

Alt proteins solve for all three problems: carcass balancing, slow responsiveness to demand/production swings, and inability to shift product categories.

All of these market inefficiencies, and the enormous waste they generate, can be mitigated. 6/6
wired.com/story/alt-meat…