Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Canada's food manufacturers are cutting capacity and focusing on key products as they confront labour shortages and supply chain bottlenecks that show no signs of easing.
Shipping backlogs, delays in obtaining packaging and ingredients and high worker absenteeism due to COVID-19 isolation protocolsare interfering with the availability of certain products, experts say.
The situation has prompted some food suppliers to inform grocers about the steps they're taking to fulfil orders, including finding new sources for materials, adding transportation capacity and even changing product formulations in some cases.
Shoppers should expect intermittent issues with product availability, said Michael Graydon, CEO of Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada.
"There are certain commodities that will come and go and be a bit sporadic," he said. "But the essentials in life will there."
Many food manufacturers are coping with labour and product shortages by concentrating on key product flavours and sizes with the highest demand in order to maximize efficiencies, Graydon said.
Still, others have been forced to reduce production as absenteeism reaches up to 20 per cent in some plants, Graydon said.
"You end up having to cut significant manufacturing capacity because you don't have the labour," he said. "We already have high demand for products because the restaurant industry is virtually down and out and home consumption increased."
Meanwhile, supply chain issues are also impacting the flow of goods, especially over the border.
Shipping problems are delaying the delivery of U.S.-made products to Canadian distribution centres as well as the availability of raw materials like packaging, experts say.
"There's a massive shortage of truck drivers," Graydon said. "Goods aren't moving and the cost of moving those goods is going up."
Compounding the situation is a new federal vaccine mandate for truckers, he said.
"It's the timing," Graydon said. "This new variant has had a significant impact on absenteeism ... we can't afford to lose more drivers right now."
Sylvain Charlebois, Dalhousie University professor of food distribution and policy, said food access in Canada will be a challenge for some time.
"There are bottlenecks throughout the supply chain, especially in processing," he said. "That impacts distribution and eventually the ability for grocers to restock shelves."
Consumers will see fewer discounts and products on supermarkets shelves as a result, Charlebois said.
"Promotions are going to be really, really rare," he said. "And shoppers may occasionally notice half-empty shelves."
Meanwhile, the shortage of truckers will make the border less fluid, leading to delays in obtaining both raw ingredients and finished products, Charlebois said.
Av Maharaj, chief administrative officer for Kraft Heinz Canada, said his company is not immune to the current supply chain challenges across the food industry.
Shipping costs have gone up dramatically and there is a scarcity of certain raw materials, he said.
Still, Maharaj said Kraft Heinz's facility outside of Montreal has rigorous safety protocols in place and low absenteeism, allowing it to operate at full production.
"The factory continues to run at a maximum capacity to meet demands of Canadian consumers," he said.
Lores Tome, a spokesperson for Kellogg Canada Inc., said higher at-home consumption coupled with supply chain challenges have impacted the availability of some products in Canada, such as Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal.
These "intermittent shortages" reflect the challenging operating environment all manufacturers are experiencing, she said in an e-mailed statement.
About 1,400 union workers at Kellogg's plants in the United States were on strike for several weeks last year. An agreement was reached Dec. 21.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2022.
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, a key terminal for the entry of humanitarian aid that was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.