Are the Feds
Stockpiling Survival Food?
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Are feds stockpiling
survival food? Posted: July 25, 2008
A Wall
Street Journal columnist has advised people to "start stockpiling
food" and an ABC News Report says "there are worrying signs
appearing in the United States where some … locals are beginning to hoard
supplies." Now there's concern that the U.S. government may be competing
with consumers for stocks of storable food. "We're
told that the feds bought the entire container of canned butter when it hit
the California docks. (Something's up!)," said officials at Best Prices
Storable Foods in an advisory to customers. Spokesman
Bruce Hopkins told WND he also has had trouble obtaining No. 10 cans of
various products from one of the world's larger suppliers of food stores,
Oregon Freeze Dry. (Story
continues below)
He said a
company official told him on the telephone when he discussed the status of
his order that it was because the government had purchased massive quantities
of products, leaving none for other customers. That,
however, was denied by Oregon Freeze Dry. In a website statement, the company
confirmed it cannot assure supplying some items to customers. "We
regret to inform you Oregon Freeze Dry cannot satisfy all Mountain House #10
can orders and we have removed #10 cans from our website temporarily,"
the company tells frustrated customers. "The reason for this is sales of
#10 cans have continued to increase. OFD is allocating as much production
capacity as possible to this market segment, but we must maintain capacity
for our other market segments as well." The
company statement continues, "We want to clarify inaccurate information
we’ve seen on the Internet. This situation is not due to sales to the
government domestically or in Iraq. We do sell products to this market, but
we also sell other market segments … The reason for this decision is solely
due to an unprecedented sales spike in #10 cans sales. "We
expect this situation to be necessary for several months although this isn’t
a guarantee. We will update this information as soon as we know more. We
apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience. We sincerely
hope you will continue to be Mountain House customers in the future,"
the company statement said. But
Hopkins wasn't backing away from his concerns. "The
government just came in and said they're buying it. They did pay for
it," he told WND about the summertime shipment of long-term storage
butter. "They took it and no one else could have it. "We
don't know why. The feds then went to freeze dried companies, and bought most
of their canned stock," he said. A
spokeswoman for Oregon Freeze Dry, sales manager Melanie Cornutt, told WND
that the increasing demand for food that can be stored has been on the rise
since Hurricane Katrina devastated large sections of the Gulf Coast, cutting
off ordinary supply routes. "We
are currently out of stock on our cans. We are not selling any of our
cans," she confirmed. She then
raised the issue of government purchases herself. "We
do sell to the government [but] it is not the reason [for company sales
limits]," she said. Officials
with the Federal
Emergency Management Agency told WND whatever government agency is buying
in a surge it isn't them. They reported a stockpile of about six million
meals which has not changed significantly in an extended period. But
Hopkins said it was his opinion the government is purchasing huge quantities
of food for stockpiles, and Americans will have to surmise why. "We
don't have shelters that [are being] stocked with food. We're not doing this
for the public. My only conclusion is that they're stocking up for
themselves," he said of government officials. Blogger
Holly Deyo issued an alert this week announcing, "Unprecedented
demand cleans out major storable food supplier through 2009." "It
came to our attention today, that the world's largest producer of storable
foods, Mountain House, is currently out of stock of ALL #10 cans of freeze
dried foods, not just the Turkey Tetrazzini. They will NOT have product now
through 2009," she said. "This
information was learned by a Mountain House dealer who shared it with me this
morning. In personally talking with the company immediately after, Mountain
House verified the information is true. Customer service stated, 'I'm
surprised they don't have this posted on the website yet.' She said they have
such a backlog of orders, Mountain House will not be taking any #10 can food
requests through the remainder of this year and all of the next. "Mountain
House claims this situation is due to a backlog of orders, which may very
well be true, but who is purchasing all of their food? This is a massive
global corporation. "One
idea: the military. Tensions are ramping up with Iran and news segments
debate whether or not we will implement a preemptive strike in conjunction
with Israel," she wrote. Hopkins
raised some of the same concerns, suggesting a military conflict could cause
oil supplies to plummet, triggering a huge increase in the cost of food –
when it would be available – because of the transportation issues. The ABC
report from just a few weeks ago quoted Jim Rawles, a former U.S.
intelligence officer who runs a survival blog, saying food shortages soon
could become a matter of survival in the U.S. "I
think that families should be prepared for times of crisis, whether it's a
man-made disaster or a natural disaster, and I think it's wise and prudent to
stock up on food," he told ABC. "If
you get into a situation where fuel supplies are disrupted or even if the
power grid were to go down for short periods of time, people can work around
that," he said. "But you can't work around a lack of food – people
starve, people panic and you end up with chaos in the streets." At his
California ranch, the location of which is kept secret, he said, "We
have more than a three-year supply of food here." In the
Wall Street Journal, columnist Brett Arends warned, "Maybe it's time for
Americans to start stockpiling food. "No,
this is not a drill," he wrote. His
concern was about various food shortages around the globe, and the fact that
in a global market, prices in the U.S. reflect difficulties in other parts of
the world quickly. Professor
Lawrence F. Roberge, a biologist who has worked with a number of universities
and has taught online courses, told WND he's been following the growing
concern over food supplies. He also
confirmed to WND reports of the government purchasing vast quantities of
long-term storable foods. He said
that naturally would be kept secret to avoid panicking the public, such as
when word leaks out to customers that a bank may be insolvent, and depositors
frantically try to retrieve their cash. "[These]
circumstances certainly raise red flags," he said. |
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