DeKalb Times

Illinois meat market owners are experiencing setbacks due to a shortage after processing plants have been closed nationwide due to COVID-19.

Tom Inboden of Inboden's Gourmet Meats & Specialty Foods in DeKalb told the Daily Chronicle he was supposed to receive a shipment of pork late last month but only received half of the order because the other half was on back-order.

"The phone is constantly ringing, with people asking 'Do you have it?' and me responding 'Hold on, I'll let you know,'" Inboden told the Daily Chronicle. "Everyone in the meat industry is suffering, and it will have a sizable economic impact. However, I'm confident we'll work our way through all of this. It'll just take a little bit of time."

Inboden told the newspaper that while he has a lot of meat in stock at his store, that situation changes daily and even hourly.

Janelle Ream, the owner of Ream's Meat Market in Elburn, also told the newspaper that along with product shortages, people are panic-buying, which also makes things difficult.

"People are buying large quantities at a time, which is not usual for this time of the year," Ream told the news agency. "We're not seeing too much of a shortage yet, but we have seen a large change in demand. I think people are also stocking up because they're staying home and not going out [shopping] as often."

Tom Ulrich, the owner of Sycamore Country Store and Catering in Sycamore, told the Daily Chronicle that panic-buying has required them to place limits on meat-buying for customers.

"Some people are buying 10, 20 or 30 pounds of ground chuck at a time," Ulrich told the Daily Chronicle. "It's just like the issue of [panic-buying] toilet paper. Our freezers used to be fully stocked, and now we can't keep up with orders. The product is out there, but farmers are having a problem getting it to slaughter and to the market."

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have recorded multiple outbreaks of coronavirus at meat processing plants nationwide and several processing facilities have closed since the pandemic began in March, the news agency reported.

With many processing plants closed, producers are forced to depopulate livestock, the Daily Chronicle reported.