If one were to choose song lyrics to represent the food experience for most Americans compared to people around the world, one might include phrases like, oh to live on sugar mountain, I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill, or food, glorious food. But in a pandemic, it’s not a given that our strawberry fields will go on forever, or that we won’t soon be singing bye, bye to American pie. Here are a few of the concerning details you may not have heard through the grapevine: While many Americans are lining up at their local grocery stores and a growing number are lining up at food banks, some food producers are lining up their output for destruction. In short, food is off the chain. Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic.

+ “While food continues to be produced on the nation’s farmland during the coronavirus pandemic, the subsequent lockdown of society has caused a seismic shift in what people are buying and eating, and distribution networks haven’t kept up. As a result, some food items are not getting to where they need to go.” California dairies dump milk.

+ One of the largest pork processing facilities in the US is closing until further notice. South Dakota’s Smithfield employees accounted for more than half of the active coronavirus cases in the state.

+ “At a Wayne Farms chicken processing plant in Alabama, workers recently had to pay the company 10 cents a day to buy masks to protect themselves from the new coronavirus.” ‘Elbow to elbow:’ North America meat plant workers fall ill, walk off jobs.