Perdue: Food Supply Is In Good Shape

The Ag Secretary said this week there's no shortage of food in this country, it's just taking the food system a little time to adjust to the new demand.

Yes in some grocery stores in some cities there are slim pickings for some products, particularly meats. "But that does not mean we don't have enough food in this Country to feed the American people," Perdue noted.

Perdue said even with some meat processing plants slowing or temporarily stopping operations there's still plenty or production, but of course the ultimate destination for that food has changed suddenly.

"[Moving] from restaurant and institutional settings to retail settings," he noted. Which require among other things different sizing and types of packaging and label and Perdue says it's not as easy as you might think to totally revamp things. 

He compared it to an accident on a highway "When it is flowing along well and you have a crash in one place it backs up, and that's what's happening in the food supply chain, but we're working through that."

By changing lanes, taking detours, resetting the GPS, and delivering the food to stores that may take a little extra time he says but, "We have plamty of food for all of our citizens," he continued.

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