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On Thursday, the Stars and Stripes reported that supply chain issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic were impacting Defense Department commissaries worldwide, including in Europe and Asia. Moreover, the global supply chain shortage is being felt at US military stations across the world, including in Japan and South Korea. The outlet reported citing Facebook posts by military officials that there were food shortages in Japan and South Korea at the beginning of the year. Chilled items, including dairy products, have been hit hardest by the supply chain shortages so far. Butter, cheese, coffee creamer, cream, milk, yogurt, eggs, and chilled juices are missing from the shelves at most US bases in Japan. The US military bases in Germany and Italy have also been reported to have experienced food shortages in recent months.

A Marine base on Okinawa, Japan, Camp Kinser said, “For the immediate future, do not expect our commissary shelves to be stocked at levels that we are used to”. The post said that the Defense Commissary Agency sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience this may cause the community, but they are doing all they can to get the product to the shelves. Air Force spouse Valerie Jackson, 31, shopped on Wednesday at the commissary at the Camp Foster military base in Okinawa, Japan, because the shelves are much emptier at the nearby Kadena Air Base. Jackson said, “The Kadena commissary is kind of lacking in supplies and we’re wanting tacos tonight. My husband went the other day and said that there was hardly anything left, like milk, sour cream, cheese”.

The same California distributor supplies commissaries in Japan and South Korea, so all the bases in those countries are equally affected by shortages, Kalani Patsel, commissary zone manager in Okinawa, told the military news site in an email. In a Camp Kinser Community group on Facebook, there were several pictures of empty shelves, including one with no milk left. Patsel said, “We have 100s of containers with commissary products sitting out in the U.S. ports waiting to get off-loaded. Now top that with a COVID case in any of these chain links and supply interruptions will occur. Shelves may be restocked by the end of the month. There will be times that we won’t have an item in stock for whatever reason is. However, I can assure you that we are doing our utmost to try and get the necessities to the customers as quickly as possible”.