Food supply chain: a house of cards
At the time of writing this column, truckers in Canada were protesting that country’s vaccine mandates. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had recently made it a requirement for truckers crossing into Canada from the US to prove they were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or quarantine upon return to Canada. These truckers have been blocking traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, a major trading route between the US and Canada. The protest is already threatening retailers’ stocks of fresh produce and other food items, such as cereal, which is leading to an increase in the prices of these commodities. According to Michelle Wasylyshen, national spokesperson for the Retail Council of Canada, around 25% of “all food and consumer products, as well as packaging and ingredients, are [transported] by trucks across the Ambassador Bridge […]”. Such…