Where has all the food gone?
Images of missing stock in UK supermarkets began to emerge from June 2021 onwards. Rows and rows of bare shelves. Fridges left unfilled. Bemused shoppers, standing questioning with empty baskets. Slowly but steadily the frustrated muttering made its way on to social media feeds and into national newspapers, as warnings of a “summer of disruption” to the UK’s supply chain became reality.
BP was forced to close petrol stations because it didn’t have enough fuel to sell. Pubs were left unable to source beer. Iceland, faced with losing 1,000 staff to self-isolation, warned it may need to temporarily shut some of its stores. The British Meat Processors Association went even further, warning that the UK’s food supply chain was “right on the edge of failing”.
The summer rolled on and the situation continued to
