In what has become a nationwide trend, food and staffing shortages have reached two of the largest school districts in Georgia.
Both Fulton County Schools and Gwinnett County Schools are facing inventory and food service issues, according to reports.
Supply chain issues, blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic, have left the Georgia schools in search of alternatives to chicken and beef.
“We tried new items such as crispy cod nuggets. We have incorporated other fresh fruits such as plums, grapes and tangerines into our menu items and we are focusing heavily on our locally grown items,” Executive Director of School Nutrition for Fulton County Schools, Alyssia Wright reportedly said.
Fulton County is also imploring residents to seek employment within the district, as food service employees have left the schools completely. They say other food service jobs, like Uber Eats, have offered alternatives to former employees. The county is specifically asking mothers of students to apply, pitching them on benefits and convenience.
“We offer full healthcare, pension and sick days,” said Ron Wade, the district’s chief talent officer. “Often times [sic] our food service workers are moms and the schedule sort of aligns perfectly with the school day of their student so it really takes care of the childcare issue.”
Fulton County Schools serve 90,000 meals per day.
The story is the same in Gwinnett County.
“Supply chain delays and shortages have impact [sic] just about every aspect of commerce, not just school lunchrooms,” that district reportedly said. “Gwinnett County Public Schools’ (GCPS) has not always been able to obtain the exact product, brand, or quantity of food that our school nutrition department typically gets, so it has relied on substitute brands or alternative food items to meet the needs of students. For example, if we are unable to obtain enough chicken nuggets for all our schools, we will offer an alternative item at the schools that don’t have nuggets.”
GCPS made it clear, however, that its students are not going hungry. Even if they do not have traditional menu items, the substitute items are plentiful enough to feed every child.
The Star News Network has been following the national school food shortages closely.
Earlier this week, for example, The Arizona Sun Times reported that the Tucson Unified School District, one of the largest in Arizona, is having the same problems.
“We are experiencing delivery delays and volume shortages for many products. For example we order 1,000 cases of an item but only receive 700 cases or delivery dates are pushed further out,” Karla Escamilla, TUSD’s Senior Coordinator of Communications & Media Relations told The Sun Times.
“We are also experiencing items we typically order have been discontinued or are currently not being manufactured. Beef, chicken and packaging products have been most common for difficulties of availability,” she continued.
That district serves 30,000 meals per day.
The Ohio Star also reported recently on staffing and food shortages in New Albany-Plain Local Schools.
“Some key food shortages we have experienced in our daily operations are beef products; such as hamburger patties, chicken products; such as popcorn chicken, chicken patties, nuggets, etc and potato products; such as hash browns and french fries,” the school’s Communications Manager Patrick Gallaway told The Star. “These items are in high demand and short supply. Many breakfast items are also in demand. Additionally, we are struggling to get paper products and disposable flatware.”
More broadly, food shortages are affecting the entire United States.
The prices for items that are not totally out of stock, like beef, have skyrocketed in 2021, and are expected to continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
For its part, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says that there are no food shortages.
“There are currently no nationwide shortages of food, although in some cases the inventory of certain foods at your grocery store might be temporarily low before stores can restock,” the USDA website says. “Food production and manufacturing are widely dispersed throughout the U.S. and there are currently no wide-spread disruptions reported in the supply chain.”
The USDA says it is “closely monitoring the food supply chain for any shortages.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
