While the initial shock of the pandemic led to the panic buying of staple supplies, most supermarket goods have returned to the shelves. However, dry pasta still seems to have a stocking problem, as more Americans are cooking at home. According to Carl Zuanelli, chairman of the National Pasta Association and CEO of Nuovo Pasta, demand jumped 30 percent, which put a strain on every part of the process of getting the food to plates. While we were about to enter into a seasonal decline in pasta consumption, domestic wheat mills then needed to ramp up production, the number of freight rail cars had to be boosted, and the factories switched into high gear. Linda Schalles, director of special operations for the Philadelphia Macaroni Company, notes that hiring workers for these plants is the biggest “bottleneck” as the industry has a high turnover rate.
There’s a reason linguine and penne are still missing from stores https://t.co/DItOKLEqBd #pasta #linguine #penne #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/d3foqGrwq0
— Social News Daily (@SocialNewsDaily) May 22, 2020
