Experts: No reason to panic as shelves seem bare amid virus concerns

Busy supermarkets — shoppers wearing masks — and many stocking up on toilet paper, food and supplies. Greg Harper has more on the pandemic-related shopping sprees.

TORONTO (NEWS 1130) — Grocery store shelves across the country are being emptied by those concerned about the spread of COVID-19, with toilet paper and canned goods being some of the hottest items.

According to a food expert, there is no reason to panic as Canada will not run out of food.

Sylvain Charlebois from at Dalhousie University says grocery stores have such integrated logistics now that those shelves will get restocked quickly.

“They can actually flick a switch and make sure that they have products to sell. So I’m pretty confident that we’re not going to run out of everything we can temporarily run out of something in one store,” he says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point retailers start rationing and asking people to buy a limited number of items.”

RELATED: PHOTO GALLERY: Empty shelves, crowded checkouts as COVID-19 impacts Metro Vancouver

What about toilet paper, though?

Social media posts in recent days have shown bare shelves as customers rush to snatch up packs of toilet paper, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes.

Dino Bianco is the head of Canada’s largest toilet paper company Kruger Products and says while toilet paper is flying off the shelves, there’s no need to worry because more is on the way.

“It’s coming. You’ll start to see improvement I think over the next few days and into next week,” he says. “We’re running our machines full out.”

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