Representatives from several US food and beverage industry associations have warned that reduced supply of carbon dioxide (CO2) from ethanol plants due to Covid-19 could lead to food and drink shortages.
CO2 is vital to the processing, packaging, preservation, and shipping of many foods, and is used to produce beverage products including beer, soda and sparkling water.
A letter addressed to US vice-president Mike Pence was signed by representatives of the Brewers Association, Beer Institute, North American Meat Institute, the Compressed Gas Association and several others. The letter urged immediate federal action from the US government to put manufacturing plants that support CO2 production back into service, “especially those sites that are capture ready, i.e., those that have the ability to capture, liquefy, and store usable CO2.”
Preliminary data provided by the Compressed Gas Association showed that production of CO2 had decreased by approximately 20% as of 7 April, and experts predicted that CO2 production may have fallen 50% by mid-April.
The associations claimed that failure to guarantee the supply of CO2 would lead to a slowdown in food and beverage manufacturing, and that a shortage in CO2 “will ultimately lead to shortages of needed goods.”
A statement in the letter said: “A shortage in CO2 would impact the US availability of fresh food, preserved food and beverages, including beer production.
“The guidance issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on March 28, 2020 deemed these industries as “essential critical infrastructure”: food manufacture, including food processing and livestock production, beverage production, renewable fuel development, and chemical and industrial gas supply chains.
“Without stable sources of CO2 across the nation, these food and beverage manufacturers will be unable to operate at capacity, leading to shortages for Americans of the important goods they depend on, especially during the Covid-19 crisis.”
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