Michigan farmers, distributors worried by coronavirus threat to supply chain

Longtime grocer Steve Antaya isn’t prone to worry.

The family’s grocery business, Tom’s Food Center, with stores in central lower Michigan, has weathered countless snowstorms that have ground store traffic to a halt for days, as well as national crises like 9/11 and the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009.

Still this week, Antaya and other independent grocers in Michigan weren’t just struggling to restock shelves. They were trying to figure out how to deal with Michigan’s increasingly rattled supply chain as the coronavirus outbreak brings much of the state’s economy to a near halt.

“We’re getting regular communications about the challenges they’re having and what they’re doing to keep the gears moving,” Antaya said of suppliers and distributors who provide food and supplies to Tom’s stores in Portland and Okemos.

Delivery trucks were late Tuesday for meat, dairy, produce, bakery items as well as health goods — he said. And at times recently, the vehicles have been only half full.

Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-health-watch/michigan-farmers-distributors-worried-coronavirus-threat-supply-chain