Sundance presents a very, very good theory on all these food-processing plant malfunctions.
(First, the disposition of the 'airplane accidents.' They ARE accidents, and food plants are often near airports due to logistics.)
As to the rest?
...When the restaurant, hotel, cafeteria, school lunchroom, food trucks and hospitality venues were shut down by government COVID mitigation, they represented about 60% of all food consumption. That pushed everyone into the retail side, grocery stores and supermarkets for food purchases.
When 60% of the demand shifted into the system that represents the other 40% of total food delivery, the processing side of the total food supply chain went into maximum stress and overdrive. CTH warned about the limits and capacities of this sector and the potential future problems that would surface.
Commercial food operations, industrial kitchens and massive food processing organizations were forced to increase food production on a scale that is almost unimaginable. Empty store shelves were the immediate result of massive increases in demand. The entire supply chain was pushed beyond capacity and remained beyond operational capacity for well over 18 months.
Two shift processing operations added a third and fourth shift for workers. Unlimited overtime with everyone working round the clock was the outcome. The food processing and distribution supply chain went into 24/7 emergency operations to try and compensate for the extreme demand.
What we are seeing now is likely, in large part, a downstream consequence from industrial kitchens putting preventative maintenance on the side in order to keep the processing going....
Makes sense, especially if you include "operator error" which is a natural result of heavy overtime and poor or non-existent training due to the pressure to make and ship product NOW; and the generally declining talent in the available recruitment pool.
We don't need a reduction in food-processing capability, but paranoia will NOT be helpful.
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