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Shortages Of Chicken And Lettuce.

Posted on 29th May 2022

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Anyone who likes fast food will be upset by these shortages.

This article on the BBC reports that KFC in Australia has been forced to put cabbage in its burgers and wraps as the country is struggling with a shortage of lettuce. The company is now using a mixture of lettuce and cabbage, after floods destroyed lettuce crops.

Also, in a few countries, there is a shortage of chicken:

  • In New Zealand there is a shortage of chicken thighs, caused by staff shortages due to cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, according to this report on "Stuff". The shortage is expected to continue for several weeks. The husband of my niece in New Zealand eats no meat except chicken, and has been taking it very badly.
  • Malaysia is suffering from a chicken shortage, and has banned exports of chicken, which is in turn causing a shortage in Singapore and, presumably also in Thailand, as reported here on The Guardian. Malaysia's internal chicken shortage has caused it to set up stockpiles of the poultry, as reported here by The Straits Times. The root cause of the Malaysian chicken shortage is feed shortages caused, at least in part, by the Ukraine war. As a result, prices of chicken in Malaysia have gone through the roof in recent months. In many South-East-Asian countries, chicken is eaten a lot because in is the cheapest source of protein.