Second verse, same as the first – as just about every item you’d expect to find on the table for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is being impacted by supply chain issues, staffing shortages, higher costs of production, scarcity – or all of the above.

According to recent studies, issues with side dishes actually center on packaging that those ingredients come in.  Aluminum cans, along with glass jars and bottles, are tied up in shipping bottlenecks on their way from, guess where, China – that, according to Rodney Holcomb, a food economist at Oklahoma State University.

He said others are even having trouble getting labels for their products.

Holcomb also said even raw vegetables might be more expensive, because the cost of fertilizer, much of which is imported from China, has skyrocketed; the increased cost of fertilizer also makes it much more expensive to grow corn – which means it’s more expensive to raise chickens, turkey and other livestock.

Now for many families’ main course, which is of course, meat.  The cost of all food can be easily seen (and felt) to be higher than last year, with conservative efforts placing that increase at around 5%

The demand for meat spiked during the COVID-19 lockdowns, as the meat processing plants were hit hard by outbreaks.  Experts say a shortage as such isn’t expected, but the public may notice a few “odd” things; for example, you might have trouble finding a small turkey. That’s because turkeys grow quickly, so if there are any slowdowns at a processing plant – because of a COVID-19 outbreak, or a broken piece of equipment that needs a part shipped from overseas – then those turkeys keep getting bigger and bigger.

They say consumers should attempt, whenever possible, to purchase food items that are locally grown during this holiday season.

(WWLP)