State workers helping move food to NC tables

Troxler said meat supplies at grocery stores have been limited, at least in part by outbreaks of illness at processing plants in other states. He said his department is working closely with processors and health officials in North Carolina to avoid plant closures here.

Speaking at the monthly Council of State meeting Tuesday, Troxler said his department is helping to coordinate public sales, mostly of chicken, across the state.

So far, he said, producers have sold 130 tractor-trailer loads directly to the public – about 5 million pounds.

Part of the problem, Troxler explained, is that much of the food produced here, meat and produce, is normally sold to food supply companies that deliver it to restaurants, schools and universities.

"About 50 percent of all the meals eaten in North Carolina" are provided by schools and restaurants under normal circumstances, he said.

"That change in supply is what has caused the shortages at the grocery stores," Troxler said, "so we’re working to, at least short-term, create an alternative delivery system of food in North Carolina until we get out of this pandemic."

Spokeswoman Andrea Ashby said department staff "are asking produce growers who have lost markets to submit a list of what produce they have," then sharing that information with grocery stores "to try to help fill any produce needs the grocery stores may have."

Troxler also said the department's food distribution division is delivering food from state warehouses to food banks and feeding institutions. About $110 million was already in the pipeline to go to schools and charities.