All fresh chicken and pork gone
Sign in Bónus supermarket warning customer of the shortage of fresh chicken and directing them to frozen products.
“There is no fresh chicken or pork left at all. Stocks of fresh beef are also running low,” says Guðmundur Marteinsson, CEO of Icelandic low-cost supermarket Bónus. Ongoing strike action by State-employed vets has put a halt to slaughtering operations in Icelandic abattoirs.
Unprecedented shortages
Depleted stocks of fresh meat are also leading to a run on frozen meat products. “Bónus still has stocks of frozen chicken but they will not last for more than a few days,” Marteinsson warns. “We have seen chicken shortages before, but nothing like this. There is just nothing left.”
Other meat available
Marteinsson expects consumer patterns in Iceland to adapt to the situation over the next few weeks. There are, for instance, healthy stocks of lamb and fish in the shops.
Ongoing industrial action
Vets from the Icelandic Veterinary Association who are members of the Iceland Association of Academics (BHM) have been on strike since 20 April. One of these vets must always be present when animals are slaughtered in abattoirs.
In response to the crisis, the Icelandic Veterinary Association has authorised limited culls of animals on farms where overcrowding has pushed animal welfare to dangerous levels.
Marteinsson indicates, however, that the benefits of these exemptions will not be seen in the shops as animals culled for this purposes may not be sold to retail outlets. It is therefore not likely for fresh meat to return to shops until the strike ends.
