No whey? Protein shortage looms
America turned snacks into supplements and called it health.
Responding to the latest dietary craze, America put protein in Pop-Tarts, chips, candy, soda, and water, and now the whey mines are running dry.
The Atlantic reports that wholesale whey powder prices are up more than 50 percent since January, inventories are tight, and some manufacturers have already sold through their supplies for the year. This is what happens when every snack decides it is training for CrossFit. At some point, the dairy supply chain looks at protein water and says, “I’m tired, boss.”
Whey-protein prices are surging, and a shortage may be imminent. “Demand is strengthening,” the USDA warned in a recent report, and “inventories remain tight.” Some manufacturers have already sold their supplies for the full year. Since January, wholesale prices for food-grade whey powder have risen by more than 50 percent, to the highest level on record, according to the commodity-pricing experts at DCA Market Intelligence.
Retail prices are going up, too: Six months ago, a two-pound jug of Optimum Nutrition’s “delicious strawberry”–flavored whey protein powder went for about $40 on Amazon; now it’s $54.03. “We’ve absolutely felt it,” Stephen Zieminski, the CEO of the supplement company Naked Nutrition, said of the shortage in an email to me (though he noted that his company had not raised prices). “Demand is up and supply is tighter than it has ever been.”
Every era has a shortage that shows its priorities.