‘No need for panic’ over meat supply, supermarkets’ assoc. says

There is “no need to panic” over Cyprus’ supply of meat in light of outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in both Cyprus and Greece, supermarkets’ association chairman Andreas Hadjiadamou said on Wednesday.

“Really, there is no need to panic or for people to be fearful. We are not experiencing any particular shortage at this time, and it would in any case be far too early to say if the outbreak of foot and mouth disease would have predicated this,” he told the Cyprus Mail.

He added that Cyprus has “faced much worse problems than this in the past, with no shortage of the meat supply detected”.

“There are enough unaffected units, both in Cyprus and in Greece, from which supermarkets procure meats, that the supply of meat is continuing to supermarkets. We would encourage people to be cool-headed and careful when talking about this, as we do not wish to create an image of there being a shortage when there is not,” he said.

He also pointed out that with Easter, and thus the Lenten period, having fallen earlier than usual this year, the level of meat consumption in recent weeks has also been lower than what it otherwise would have, thus effectively further securing the availability of meat for those who wish to buy it.

Fears of a shortage had arisen after the outbreak of the disease seen in the Larnaca district in recent weeks and heightened after that outbreak spread to the Nicosia district and after a separate outbreak had been detected in Greece, on the Aegean island of Lesvos.