# 588
One of the great unknowns of a pandemic is how it will affect our fragile just-in-time supply system. Everything from food, to medicine, to fuel comes to the consumer through a convoluted, and extremely long chain of manufacturers and suppliers.
Gone are the days when grocery stores kept large stock rooms filled with foodstuffs. It is easier, cheaper, and more efficient to have deliveries made each day, and during a pandemic, that poses a serious risk.
Government, industry plan for food shortage during flu pandemic
GLORIA GALLOWAY
From Monday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — Food industry representatives will meet with government officials today to strategize about ways of getting food to Canadian stomachs in the event of a flu pandemic.
While much pandemic preparedness has been focused on the health sector, government documents say grocery-store shelves could be emptied if the long-anticipated global influenza were to strike hard and fast.
Worst-case scenarios suggest the disease could take out a third of the work force, borders could close and transportation lines could shut down.
"In a modern-day, just-in-time food-supply chain, also drawing inputs and ingredients from across the world, such [a] pandemic would not only have severe public-health implications but also pose significant economic impacts and challenges across the entire agri-food continuum," says a federal discussion guide written last year.
Farmers, food producers and distributors will not be immune to the disease, says the paper.
"Moreover, [the health of] workers indirectly supporting this industry such as those involved in power generation, utilities, fuelling, spare parts etc. will also have an effect on our collective ability to feed Canadians during a pandemic."
A breakdown in the supply chain due to employee absenteeism, fuel shortages, or civil disturbances would quickly lead to empty store shelves.
This problem is not unique to Canada. Most developed nations today use the same just-in-time inventory system in order to streamline operations and lower costs.
The problem goes beyond food.
Municipal water suppliers rely on deliveries of chemicals to treat water. Pharmacies rely on daily deliveries of medicine to replenish their supplies. Many power plants rely on continued delivery of coal or oil to stay operational. And of course gas stations rely on weekly deliveries of fuel.
A pandemic has the potential to break a lot of links in these supply chains.
