Gas crisis could see a food shortage across the UK
Poultry, pig and bakery goods may start to go missing off supermarket shelves
Poultry, pork and bakery goods are among the many types of produce that could begin to disappear off our shelves as a result of C02 shortages.
Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, has warned shoppers that they may notice products going missing from supermarket shelves "in about 10 days".
It comes just days after CF Fertilisers, who produce CO2 as a by-product, stopped production in Teeside and Cheshire due to 'high natural gas prices' making their business 'inoperable'.
Not only is Carbon dioxide gas used to carbonated drinks and beers, but it is also used to stun animals before slaughter, causing some slaughterhouses to stop production.
CO2 is injected into the packaging of perishable foods such as meat and salads to inhibit the growth of bacteria. It typically prolongs the shelf life of products such as beef steak by around five days.
The halt to CO2 production comes as supply chains are already grappling with a shortage of HGV delivery drivers, piling yet more pressure on UK supermarkets' "just in time" model.
Ian Wright said that the potential shortages of CO2 supply were "a real crisis" and said "the just-in-time system which underpins both supermarkets and the hospitality industry is under the most strain it has ever been in the 40 years it has been there".
Mr Wright said that poultry production will begin to thin very seriously by the end of this week, with the same being true of pig production and the making of bakery goods. Meat packaging is probably only about a week behind, he added.
Read More: 300 jobs at risk as CF Fertilisers stops production
Pig farmers will be forced to "slaughter their own animals" to dispose of them if the situation facing the industry does not change, the chairman of the National Pig Association has warned.
It has added to months of ongoing difficulties over a shortage of skilled workers, many of whom have gone back to Eastern Europe, which means abattoirs have already had to reduce the number of animals they kill by 25%.
Chairman Rob Mutimer said: "If the situation doesn't change, it's going to spiral completely out of control. The only endgame there is we as farmers are going to end up slaughtering our livestock - not for the food chain but to put them into rendering, to dispose of carcasses like what happened in foot and mouth. That's a terrible situation to be in."
Lindsay Duncan, campaigns manager for the charity World Animal Protection, said: "From worker and lorry driver shortages to the rise in gas prices, recent events have highlighted how unsustainable our current farming system is.
"Large scale mass production of sentient beings causes suffering at an immense scale and to have to cull animals at the end of it just shows how broken this process is. We should be working towards a high welfare sustainable farming system which doesn't rely on factory farms and focuses on consuming less animal products instead."
Owner of Bernard Matthews and 2 Sisters Food Group, Ranjit Singh Boparan, has warned that a shortage of both worker and C02 could mean Christmas dinners will be "cancelled".
However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said cancelling Christmas is "very much not the plan" despite possibilities of a turkey shortage and a spike in coronavirus cases during the festive season.
Read More: Post-Brexit charges on some EU Christmas gifts
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