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Comment by CWuestefeld | Hacker News Reader

Luckily, this kind of supply shock isn't possible with produce. </sarcasm>

This isn't a problem specific to meat at all; the same kind of interruption to supply chains can occur anywhere through the economy. So you don't necessarily have the option of falling back on veggies.

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Part of the problem with meat processing plants are the crowded conditions the workers are in on the clock and on breaks. I would guess this is a little different with produce since you don't need slaughterhouses etc.

Processing, packing, and distribution facilities for fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms have dense working conditions just like meat plants.

Grains are better in that regard since there's much more automation.

>Luckily, this kind of supply shock isn't possible with produce.

Vegetables have a longer shelf life than meat and grains a longer shelf life still. So you're just wrong.

And you're still making the mistake of focusing on one particular facet of the economy. Whether it's meat or vegetables or surgical masks or electricity or water or what-have-you, the economy is vastly interconnected. The way that tugging on one piece of that network may cause failures in other areas is all but unknowable. It's just wrong to shrug off one particular shock saying that you're ok with an alternative. You have no way to know what's going to fail next.

Your lack of faith in the free market, is disturbing.

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