Shortage of burgers and rationing of meat in the United States

Less meat, more vegetables: Americans may soon have to comply with this formula, supermarket chains limiting one after the other meat purchases, a consequence of temporary closings of slaughterhouses due to coronavirus. On Monday, about 20% of the fast food chain Wendy's no longer served burgers, according to an American analyst.

Fears of a possible shortage of meat as the traditional barbecue season approaches, have been heightened by the decision by the wholesale brand Costco to impose restrictions on the number of cuts of beef, pork and poultry that customers can buy in the face of rising demand. Each customer will now have the right to purchase a maximum of three items of meat, the company said in a statement posted on Monday on its website.

This measure aims to "help more people to be able to buy the goods they want and need," said the company, which manages 440 hypermarkets in the United States. Costco is not the first chain to announce such restrictions in the United States: Kroger supermarkets and the Wegmans chain have made similar announcements.

No burger at Wendy's

As for fast food, the Wendy's chain seems to be the hardest hit, forced to remove beef burgers from its menus in some restaurants. Wendy's uses fresh and not frozen ground steaks, which are more quickly hit by tensions in the supply chain.

@Wendys is this the part where I say ... ”Where's the beef?” # Toosoon pic.twitter.com/cQwUz7uPTR

Wendy's Pulls Burgers From Some Restaurants Amid Nationwide Meat Shortage https://t.co/PI1oUTSDYw pic.twitter.com/ZqHZlSqGwz

According to analyst James Ruthford, about 18% of Wendy's 1,043 stores are affected, mainly in New York, Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee. At this stage, it is not yet a global but regional shortage which depends on the impact of the coronavirus on suppliers.

One in two employees infected in a slaughterhouse

Donald Trump recently signed an executive order ordering factories, where cattle, hogs and poultry are slaughtered and processed, to stay open to make sure there is meat on supermarket shelves. After already closing five sites, meat giant Tyson Foods warned on Monday that further slaughterhouse closings were more than likely this year. According to the American media, 700 employees in Perry, Iowa, tested positive for Covid-19, or 58% of the employees of the slaughterhouse. As a result, many farmers have been forced to massively slaughter millions of animals to limit the population of their establishments.

It is difficult "to anticipate how long these challenges caused by the Covid-19 will persist," said CEO Noel White, adding that the duration of the closings currently varies from "a few days to weeks." As a result, Tyson Foods' meat production will decrease significantly, especially since some employees no longer go to the factory for fear of being contaminated.

According to the main agricultural union in the United States, Farm Bureau, at least 18 meat factories have been closed in the last two months, reducing in passing the country's capacity to process pork by about 20% and that 10% beef.

• United States
• Meat
• Coronavirus
• Planet