CO2 shortage is imminent: is the meat at the fresh food counter in the supermarket now scarce?
Created: 09/18/2022, 11:38 am
By: Stella Henrich
It can happen that fresh meat and pork sausages are not available at times.
(Iconic image) © Martin Wagner/imago
Consumers have to reckon with the fact that at times there will be no fresh meat or pork sausage available when shopping.
Munich – Most consumers have now gotten used to the fact that products such as sunflower oil, butter, muesli and dairy products are sometimes not available in supermarkets and discounters.
The reasons are well known: the raging war in Ukraine, the resulting global energy crisis and a tense situation in global supply chains.
This combination leads to shortages - also in retail.
But apparently Germany is now facing another problem.
And that means carbon dioxide.
As
Welt.de
reports, carbon dioxide is currently missing as an industrial gas.
And that is a big problem for the production of food and beverages.
Carbon dioxide is used, for example, in the meat industry, in dairies and in vegetable cultivation, but also in the production of mineral water, beer and soft drinks.
"Deliveries are currently stalling," reports Stefanie Sabet, Managing Director of the Federal Association of the German Food Industry (BVE) in Brussels, to the daily newspaper.
This is not without consequences for production.
In fact, some production processes are hardly or not at all possible without CO2.
CO2 shortage in retail: carbon dioxide displaces oxygen
Usually, the consumer only knows the gas in the debate about the high CO2 emissions in the context of climate protection.
The gas is also used as a "protective gas" in packaging for meat and sausage, cheese and dairy products such as yoghurt and makes the goods last longer, according to Eckhard Heuser from the Dairy Industry Association
at
Welt.de.
In the slaughterhouses, carbon monoxide is needed to stun the animals - right at the beginning of the production process.
Because only then are they usually killed, dismantled and processed.
Heike Harstick from the Association of the Meat Industry also sees an imminent danger for the slaughterhouse industry.
"Without CO2, pigs can no longer be slaughtered and we will then have a major animal welfare problem," Welt.de
quoted
the general manager as saying.
In order to stun pigs with electric tongs or, similar to cattle, with a captive bolt, there are not enough staff and also not the appropriate premises with the necessary technical equipment to be able to ensure animal welfare-friendly stunning.
Heike Harstick, General Manager of the Meat Industry Association
CO2 shortage with consequences for consumers: gaps in meat products
It is therefore already clear that consumers have to assume that there will be gaps in fresh meat and packaged pork sausages in retail.
But not only the butchers and slaughterers are demanding a remedy.
The mineral water industry is also sounding the alarm and has sent a fire letter to Economics Minister Robert Habeck, reports
Lebensmittel Zeitung.
The scarcity of carbon dioxide as an industrial gas is "existentially threatening".
The industry demands falling energy prices as quickly as possible.
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Why is carbon dioxide scarce now?
The reason for the CO2 scarcity is the high energy prices.
Because the pure CO2 is produced as a side effect in the production of ammonia, which in turn is used for the production of fertilizers.
However, due to the high price of gas as a result of the Ukraine war, fertilizer factories have recently reduced their production or even stopped it completely.
According to forecasts, there should now be 30 to 40 percent less CO2 on the market.
Some of the largest CO2 producers are Air Liquide, Linde, Nippon Gases and Air Products.
Stefanie Sabet from the BVE is in favor of subsidizing fertilizer manufacturers so that the market can be supplied with carbon dioxide again.
She also knows that in the end everything depends on energy prices.
For consumers, this means that they have to do without again.
Because not only meat products, but also sparkling water, soft drinks such as cola and lemonade and the popular barley substance - which is currently flowing in streams at the Munich Wiesn - could become tight in retail.
Because without CO2 they would be silent.
And stale, these refreshers really only taste half as good.
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