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Airgas, Inc. has apparently run out of gas -- specifically nitrous oxide. Given that Airgas is the foremost manufacturer of nitrous oxide in the U.S., there is now a nationwide shortage.
Although the problems supposedly date back to an August plant explosion in Florida (which apparently was only reported locally), no one really noticed a problem until coffee shops started running out of whipped cream lately.
Now the news media is being whipped up into a frenzy over the possibility of a holiday desserts without whipped cream.
Time reports on this "dire" issue:
Stock up on canned whipped cream during your next jaunt to the grocery store, because we—as a nation—might be running out soon. That's right: the most important topping (or stand-alone ingredient, for some) in the dessert world is in dire short supply this holiday season. According to the Chicago Tribune, this terrifying fact is all due to a national shortage in nitrous oxide, the gas used to make aerosol cans of whipped cream function the way they're supposed to (among other things).
While this gas shortage reporting about missing coffee toppings may seem silly, it really is no laughing matter. Other Airgas plants beyond Florida are apparently also having problems, so some reports suggest remaining nitrous oxide stocks are now being restricted to medical use until replacement supplies can be imported from Europe. A bulletin sent out to store managers at regional grocery chain Market Basket notes:
Airgas, Inc. had an explosion in their Florida plant and a total loss. Their Maitland, Ontario plant was shut down for safety reasons, and their Yazoo City, Mississippi facility continues to have issues with two lines. Airgas will begin importing nitrous oxide from Europe in December. However, for now, all nitrous oxide available is being used for medical purposes.
More details at the Chicago Tribune .
[Continues...]
What I personally find hilarious about all of this holiday dessert hysteria is that whipped cream is one of the simplest things to make in your kitchen. Do you have any device capable of agitating enough to whip air into a liquid (e.g., hand mixer, stand mixer, immersion blender, food processor, even a bowl and a whisk)? You can make whipped cream in anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. (1) Pour some heavy cream (or "whipping cream"). (2) Whip until desired texture is achieved. (3) Toward the end, add any sugar or other flavorings (many people will put at least a tiny bit of vanilla extract). The end. (Minor caution: do pay attention and don't whip beyond where the cream starts to get quite stiff, or you will turn it into homemade butter.)
There's a lot of kitchen lore about having to put bowls and beaters into the freezer, etc., but that's really only necessary if you're whipping by hand with a whisk. And if you've never made homemade whipped cream, be prepared for something significantly better than the can. In addition, you get to choose exactly the texture you like -- do you want it nearly stiff and very light? Or dense, very rich, and a little runny? Feel free to add a little flavor -- a dash of cinnamon, some cocoa powder, a tablespoon or two of your favorite liqueur, a little orange zest, or even something more exotic.
Seriously, I can't even figure out why anyone would buy the canned stuff, nitrous oxide shortage or not. Every time I serve the "real thing" for guests, they act like it's the best thing they've ever eaten. Far from a holiday disaster, maybe we should look at this as an opportunity to make America whip cream again.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by captain_nifty on Friday December 16 2016, @03:20PM
What's the Opposite of Efficiency?
It's redundancy, and in our economies push for infinite growth and maximizing quarterly profits everything must get more and more efficient, losing any redundancy or backups for predictable or unexpected failures.
This isn't the first shortage we've seen, expect to see more in the future.
It's presented as a humorous subject, but represents a major problem in our society that is structurally not going to be fixed. If some company tried to have excess production capacity or storage, western capitalism would condemn that as inefficient and sell off the excess equipment or supplies for immediate profit. There is no mechanism to economically reward redundancy, in fact the opposite is true. Like hard drives after a flood, I imagine the price of Nitrous Oxide is going up and canned whip cream is flying off the shelves, allowing the producers to make a nice increased profit after they bring the supply chain back on line. Companies are rewarded on both ends of the crisis they themselves caused; increased profits before the shortage due to lack of redundant capacity, and increased profits after a shortage due to the increased demand.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 16 2016, @04:31PM
explosion at the Florida plant resulted in a total loss
if they, themselves, caused this, there's probably an insurance company with a lawsuit in progress.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @04:43PM
Right. But I think it's even more fundamental than maximizing short-term profit. If the goal of a company is to maximize profit, even long-term, then the goal is to extract as much value from the economy as possible with as few input resources as possible. It would be so much better if the goal was to provide useful, high quality products / services at reasonable prices and to provide fulfilling, fairly-compensated jobs.
I grew up in a fundamentalist charismatic church but I no longer believe in any religion and have an empiricist epistemology. Most of the church members were right wing, and talking to some of them, you would think that God invented capitalism. I read Marsden's biography of Jonathan Edwards and was so surprised to read this old-school conservative Calvinist theologian's critique of free market capitalism, which was a new idea at the time (he lived 1703-1758). He said something like, If everyone buys as cheaply as they can and charges as high of a price as they can, you will make life harder for everyone.
My employer makes a technology that was going to be integrated into a medical procedure. I asked if the goal was to improve patient outcomes; they replied that the main goal was to make the procedure seem more high tech, which was expected to increase market share for the medical procedure. Improvement in patient outcomes, if it occurred, was nice but incidental. I was disappointed but not surprised.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @09:41PM
well yeah
the first law of economics is the law of supply and demand.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @10:59PM
What's the Opposite of Efficiency?
I think that would be Government.