Coronavirus Australia: Supermarkets limit milk, bread, eggs as panic buying returns

Woolworths and Coles have reimposed item restrictions on dozens of items as shelves are emptied again.

Shoppers queue at Woolworths in Melbourne. Picture: Leo Stubbing on Twitter.

Milk, bread and eggs are among dozens of products on which Woolworths and Coles have reimposed restrictions at its Victorian supermarkets after a wave of panic buying swept the state on Tuesday.

Customers will be restricted to a limit of two items across at least 27 new product lines at Woolworths.

This comes on top of existing limits on sales of toilet paper.

Panic buying returns for round two of lockdown. The meat shelves in Coles in South Melbourne are near empty. Picture: David Crosling.

A Woolworths spokesperson said the move was to ensure customers could access fresh food and essentials.

“We have more than enough stock flowing from our distribution centres into stores to support all our customers’ food and grocery needs,” they said.

Came to pick up a few things from Woolies - massive q to get in! pic.twitter.com/zf2V7lZock

— Leo Stubbing (@LeoStubbing) July 7, 2020

Coles announced the same on Wednesday, putting restrictions on 20 items.

Coles CEO Steven Cain said while it was disappointing to reinstate purchase limits, it was an important measure to help manage demand for staple items at a critical time for many customers in Victoria.

“Our thoughts are with the many Victorians who will now be required to isolate at home, and we will continue to work with the state government to provide whatever assistance they need,” Mr Cain said.

“To help provide a safer shopping experience in our stores, we would ask that customers continue to treat our team members with respect, observe social distancing in stores, make use of the sanitising stations at the entrance, and plan their visit so they can be ‘speedy shoppers’”

Lock down is back and so is the panic buying and the long lines to enter the super market in bayside Melbourne pic.twitter.com/NKFu2IrLmt

— Chris AU (@OfficialChrisAU) July 7, 2020

The reimposition comes after Woolworths and Coles removed most item restrictions across all of their supermarkets on Monday night.

Those restrictions were imposed in recent weeks in response to earlier of panic buying that broke out in response to new cases of COVID-19 in Victoria.

On Monday the supermarkets warned they would not hesitate to reimpose restrictions if shoppers again panic bought products.

Supermarket queues - Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/Ij4l1pqsdJ

— Malcolm Farnsworth (@mfarnsworth) July 7, 2020

Woolworths is restricting shoppers across a range of chilled and frozen meat, fish, pizzas and vegetables, milk and bread, pasta, tissues, bacon, hand sanitiser, rice and sugar.

Coles customers are restricted across a prepared meat, eggs, bread, milk, pasta, flour, sugar, rice, soap, and toilet paper.

The Woolworths product limits apply to:

Frozen vegetables

Frozen potatoes

Frozen fruit

Frozen fish

Frozen poultry

Pre-packed sausages from the meat department

Pre-packed burger patties, rissoles and meatballs from the meat department

Pre-packed carrots

Pre-packed potatoes

Chilled fresh milk

Sliced bread loaves from the bakery department

Frozen pizza

Frozen party snacks

Frozen meals

Frozen seafood

Chilled juice

Pre-packed bacon

Tissues

Dry pasta

Eggs

Flour

Hand sanitiser

Long life milk

Mince

Paper towel

Rice

Sugar

The existing limit of two toilet roll packs per customers remains in place in Victoria and all other states and territories.

The Coles two-pack limits apply to:

Chicken breast

Hand sanitiser

Chicken Thigh

Liquid soaps

Chilled pasta

Long-life milk

Eggs

Mince meat

Flour

Paper towels

Fresh white milk

Pasta

Frozen chips

Rice

Frozen desserts

Sugar

Frozen fruit

Tissues

Frozen vegetables.

Coles also has a one-pack limit on toilet paper.

Woolies’ website crashes as panic buying returns

On Tuesday, Woolworths’ website briefly crashed and the supermarket heavyweight cancelled some online orders for its Melbourne customers as Melbourne prepared to go back into lockdown in the wake of spiralling coronavirus infections.

On Tuesday after Victorian premier Daniel Andrews announced a return to level three lockdowns for a period of six weeks, sparking renewed panic buying just a day after Woolworths and rival Coles announced they were easing restrictions.

One Melbourne resident told The Australian that Coles in Coburg north had some stock left, but “big sections had been cleaned out”.

A screenshot showing Woolworths' website crashing on Tuesday.

A Woolworths spokesman on Monday said the company would continue “to monitor the situation closely” and would not hesitate to reinstate product limits if needed.

But Coles and Woolworths both said on Tuesday they did not plan to reinstate product limits.

Earlier on Tuesday some Woolworths’ Melbourne customers had orders cancelled after a supervisor at the company’s West Footscray Customer fulfilment centre tested positive to coronavirus over the weekend.

The move came after assurances that operations would resume after 20 per cent of orders in Melbourne were cancelled on Monday. The Australian understands Tuesday’s cancelled orders represent FEWER than 5 per cent of all Victorian deliveries.

A Woolworth’s spokesman said the cancelled orders were due to staff shortages at the Footscray site. “For our team’s safety we have closed the customer fulfilment centre for a clean and to allow for all relevant team members to be tested,” a statement from the supermarket sent to customers said.

“You can be assured we are following public health advice and taking all necessary steps to ensure ongoing safety in our stores and online centres. This includes the attendance of registered nurses on site and compulsory temperature checks for our team.”

More than 800 staff work at the centre and efforts are underway to test many for COVID-19.

Purchasing restrictions at Woolworths and Coles were rolled out in several waves in recent weeks after renewed bouts of panic buying saw supermarket shelves stripped of toilet paper, among other items.

Several positive cases of COVID-19 at Coles’ Laverton chilled distribution facility had seen certain products restricted across Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales

However, ALDI has yet to reimpose product restrictions after reducing the number of items it produced in response to earlier waves of panic buying.