Recently, I had a terrible experience that is a side effect of the Coronavirus pandemic. It seems that in as little as a few months, life has been completely flipped upside down. Many of my beloved restaurants, bars, and clubs have either permanently closed, or they are barely staying open.
When our cities first closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, restaurants that were used to having a steady business, had no sales at all, but all of that food and stock was still there going bad. This creates challenges for businesses in terms of finances, so I suspect that many restaurants ended up keeping a lot of the stock that should have been thrown out. The reason I say this is because I started buying from my favorite beloved restaurants that I have been going to for years as soon as the city opened up; I wanted to support them, but unfortunately, I have had to stop eating at all of them because I kept getting sick from them. However, the last incident broke the camel’s back. I ordered a simple burrito with no cheese and no meat on it, but as soon as I started eating it, intense pain went through my mouth and my tooth chipped off in the area where the pain was the most intense. This prompted me to start dieting since I am afraid of our food, and to research food amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
So what happened to our food when the Coronavirus pandemic hit? Has the quality of our food changed because of farmers? Is it that those who work with our produce and meats are catching the virus or is this change a result of the fact that food is not selling fast enough to keep it safe and fresh enough to eat? The truth concerning this matter is complicated and affected by various factors. Here are four main factors that I believe are responsible for the recent changes in food quality.
What happens to bad food? Are they tossed? What part do farmers play in food quality during COVID-19?
All the food poisoning that I have been having lately made me think that bad food is not being dumped. This is both true and not true. When it comes to restaurants, with people not going out like they used to, people are spending far less money eating out and going to clubs and bars. As a result, restaurants are likely having trouble keeping food as fresh as they used to; they may also be forced to extend the life of food by freezing and keeping some foods longer than they should. This makes sense since businesses have had great financial losses recently. Many restaurants and night clubs have even permanently closed as a result of COVID-19, so keeping food longer is one way to help reduce further financial losses.
When it comes to farmers, they do dump a lot of bad food, so they do not appear to be a major source of the food quality control problem. Furthermore, farmers are located in isolated areas with acres separating them from others, so they are less likely to catch Coronavirus. If farmers are less likely to catch Coronavirus, then they are more likely to live and continue to provide cities with the food that we need to survive.
“With stay-at-home orders in place, demand for nearly every agricultural product has collapsed. Restaurants have stopped buying food, purchases of cotton for consumer goods has slowed, and low oil prices have reduced demand for ethanol, hurting corn planters. Some farmers have dumped their product, and others have held off on harvesting it in the first place” (Justin Worland, 2020, “American Farmers Were Already Hurting. Now the Coronavirus Slowdown Might Do Them In”, Time USA.
Restaurants are selling less than they used to
As mentioned earlier, restaurants have much less business now than they did before COVID-19; sales are not guaranteed and they are less frequent, so many restaurants are forced to do things like restrict their menus, serve instant rather than fresh foods, and freeze food like shrimp, vegetables, and meats more often to extend how long they last. Of course, a downside to this is that freezing will take away from the taste and freshness. A good example of this is when restaurants serve instant mashed potatoes instead of fresh ones. Instead of fresh fruit, which can go bad quickly, restaurants may turn to use syrups and juices from concentrate. This is unfortunate, but it is to be expected with the pandemic; as long as the pandemic continues, it is expected that more and more unhealthy foods will be served to us. A consequence of this is that people may find themselves gaining weight rapidly in the coming months.
Restaurants can not get food deliveries on time
Earlier we learned that farmers do throw away bad food, so this means that what arrives on trucks is originally fresh. However, the trucks may deliver the food late due to drivers coming down with Coronavirus. This can then result in food arriving at grocery stores and restaurants later, so food may become rotten or moldy as they go bad on the truck during transit. For foods like fruits and raw leafy vegetables, even one day can be all that it takes for them to start to rot. When the food arrives at grocery stores late, the delivery manager will refuse them so that the store is not charged for it. The refused foods will then be returned to the farmer or distributor. Delivery managers can not do this for all of the food though, so some of these foods may be kept, even though they are on the verge of going bad. These foods can be put on sale to get them sold faster before they rot. When too many foods are refused by the store, it can lead to a food shortage and certain foods may not be available in store.
Some foods do not arrive on trucks, but on planes; these are foods that go bad quickly, foreign goods, and foods that need to be kept frozen. Due to Coronavirus, deliveries by plane have gotten slower, and some countries are not allowing their planes to leave the country. As a result, the delivery of some foreign goods has stopped altogether. Some exotic foods have temporarily gone extinct, or they have increased in price drastically.
“Two terminals for the Port of Houston were shut down for a day this month after an employee tested positive for coronavirus, and Pennsylvania briefly closed most of its truck stops and service areas to slow the spread of the virus, threatening to also slow the distribution of food and other goods” (Shub Debgupta, 2020, “Will the Coronavirus Threaten Our Food?”, NY Times).
Many grocery stores and restaurants have had to close temporarily due to employee infections
Photo by Mehrad Vosoughi from Pexels
If you have watched the news a lot and kept up with the Coronavirus pandemic, you have likely heard about stores closing temporarily because of an employee coming down with the virus. Some food places that have had employees come down with the virus are Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Safeway, Giant, and even Mcdonald’s. Stores that have had employees come down with the virus usually close temporarily for cleaning. When stores and food places close, there is a big financial lose and there are more opportunities for food to go bad since it delays them from being sold.
What does all this information mean for us?
This all means that Coronavirus has led to more unhealthy eating habits; foods will have more calories and fat in them; foods will be sold less fresh and they may be on the verge of going bad. The consequences of this for buyers are more deadly food poisoning, weight gain, and teeth problems. Chewing on rotten meats that get stuck in between teeth will lead to teeth problems like bleeding gums, tooth pain, and mouth infections.
Coronavirus has made life harder for everyone, even buyers. We are encouraged to continue to buy from restaurants and places that we love in order to keep them in business and prevent them from permanently closing due to the Coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, eating out now is very risky due to the poor food quality found in a lot of them. This situation forces us to make a decision. Which restaurants do we still trust? Which ones are we willing to take a risk on?
I personally have found a middle place that works for me. I order a few times from restaurants I like, and if there is something wrong with all or most of the food when I order, I do not buy from them again until the pandemic is over. I trust Turkish people to maintain certain standards, so I started eating at Turkish restaurants and buying from their markets constantly since the pandemic started. This has been safe for me; I have not had any problems. In terms of my favorite restaurants though, I stopped eating at all of them, and now I am currently trying out new places. I am just not willing to risk my teeth or my health by eating bad food on a regular basis, so I check reviews on Google before ordering from any restaurants these days.
When it comes to teeth problems, we must not forget that they carry an entirely different risk these days as well. Going into medical buildings like hospitals, medical offices, or the dentist can put you at risk for exposure to COVID-19. In a dental chair with someone messing around in your mouth, you cannot wear a mask, and the dentist can constantly be exposed to Coronavirus, and pass it on to others. This means that even if you did not have Coronavirus when you went into the dentist, you may have it by the time that you come out.
Thinking about all that was said here in this article today, you have to decide for yourself what risks you are willing to take during this pandemic. You must find a proper balance for yourself and your loved ones when it comes to health, what and where you eat, and the kinds of risks that you are or are not willing to take during the remainder of the Coronavirus pandemic.
What other changes in our food do you expect to see in the coming months as Coronavirus continues?
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