Covid chaos impacting Victorian supermarket supply chains

Shoppers are being greeted by empty shelves, with reports of bare fresh produce sections emerging across Melbourne.

A shortage of fresh food and produce has hit some Woolworths and Coles stores as exploding Covid cases impact the supermarket supply chains.

Shoppers are still being greeted by empty shelves days after the holiday season rush, with reports of bare fresh produce sections emerging across Melbourne and Sydney.

The Herald Sun has sited empty fruit and vegetable shelves at Melbourne supermarkets in recent days.

A Woolworths spokesman said the stock was available and sitting in distribution centres but could not be moved to stores fast enough because staff and truck drivers had been forced into isolation.

Some stores have been impacted by meat shortages. Picture: David Crosling

“These (delays) are most significant across our New South Wales operations, however we are seeing some impact on stock levels in Victorian stores,” the spokesman said.

“We have stock available within our network and continue to draw on our Melbourne distribution centres for the majority of deliveries to stores across Victoria.”

The supermarket giant’s website also revealed meat shortages, with more than a dozen kebab, sausage and lamb products listed as “temporarily unavailable” or ”out of stock”.

Fruit and veggies including bananas, blueberries, leeks, pears, pumpkins, grapes and varieties of tomatoes were also listed as unavailable online.

At the height of Melbourne’s sixth lockdown last year, some supermarkets were forced to reduce hours or close their doors because too few staff were available to work.

Coles did not respond to a request for comment.

Originally published as Covid chaos impacting Victorian supermarket supply chains