Images of empty store shelves are compounding the situation, as worries over shortages amid a potential quarantine have added to the surge in purchases.

According to the nation's largest retailers, meat producers and dairy farmers however, there's plenty of food in the country; the problem is that the supply chain wasn't designed to handle this type of nation-wide surge in purchases and is now scrambling to catch up, reports the New York Times.

Industries that are calibrated to supply consumers with just enough of what they need on a given day cannot keep up with a nationwide surge of relentless shopping fueled in large part by fear. -NYT

As distributors and retailers struggle to restock shelves with a sudden demand for canned soup and oat milk, industry officials insist that these are temporary problems.