New Jersey braces for higher meat costs

Who would have thought after all we've been through with the pandemic that crippled the United States business economy,another setback hits us in the form of meat inflation. Yes, the price of all proteins are rising rapidly. A friend of mine, who is a meat purveyor, says we can expect a 40 percent increase in meat prices, compared to what we have been paying in January and February this year.

Several reasons are given for the inflation; one reason is that farmers are shrinking their herds to make profits that have been on decline. Obviously that's a process that has a big lag time. There is also a transportation problem as companies are having a hard time hiring back drivers that were let go during the pandemic, Couple that with rising fuel cost from the pipeline breaking and overseas sanctions which created a need to tap into our own surplus supply.

The transportation issues will also affect availability with produce and dry goods. Farmers are also getting squeezed with the high prices, soybeans and corn are at their highest points ever. My friend, the food purveyor, had to raise his chicken prices to about 40 percent more than the cost at the beginning of this year.

The restaurant and hospitality industries are once again getting hit with another obstacle with the higher prices. They will have no choice but to raise prices in their establishment which could lead to customers doing what they did during the pandemic, staying home to eat.

Some experts say this meat inflation may last eight to ten months and then straighten itself out. Good Luck to all of us and especially the restaurant industry hopefully they can survive another obstacle.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.