Australia won't run out of things to eat and drink, and shoppers have no reason to panic, according to food growers and manufacturers.
There's been unprecedented demand for food across Australia as the community adopts to new regulations designed to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The national farm lobby will today launch a public campaign to tell Australians that "Aussie farmers have your back".
National Farmers' Federation (NFF) chief executive Tony Mahar said his organisation had never felt the need for such a widespread public campaign, but these were "unprecedented times".
"There is no reason to be frightened; there is no food shortage or scarcity in Australia," Mr Mahar said.
Despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling on Australians to "just stop it" and end the rush on panic buying, Mr Mahar said industry wanted to reiterate that farmers produce more food than Australia consumes.
"The message from the farmers of Australia is relax, calm down, be sensible and we'll get through this crisis, no problems," Mr Mahar said.
"We're definitely not going to run out of food. There's no food shortages in Australia... we produce enough food for 75 million people in this country and there's only 25 million of us.
"There's no risks to food security or food shortages and people just need to calm down."
New look at meat
Export-focused abattoirs have readjusted to meet the insatiable domestic demand for meat.
The Australian Meat Industry Council (AIMC) said there was "absolutely and utterly" no chance of the running out of meat.
"We have got a multitude of supply chains around Australia to ensure product," AMIC chief executive Patrick Hutchinson said.
Mr Hutchinson said the demand for mince in particular had surged in recent days, and some processors had even shifted to mincing "choice cuts" to meet the demand.
"Butchers are saying to us across Australia that this is the biggest single demand they've ever seen for their product ever," Mr Hutchinson said.
"Meat has now become a non-discretionary spend, it's a need not a want, within the Australian community and we're rising to the challenge of meeting it."
SPC operating around the clock
In Victoria's Goulburn Valley, SPC's cannery is operating around the clock to meet the increased demand for tinned goods.
"In a year we'll produce around 47 million cans and we're trying to increase that at the moment," SPC chief executive Robert Giles said.
"We've seen a definite increase of panic buying of canned tomatoes, fruit, baked beans and spaghetti — about 100 per cent across those lines into the retail market and in the health and aged care sectors about 20 per cent so far," he said.
Mr Giles said the factory was trying to make the most of the product it had.
"Rather than having a large range of different flavoured tomatoes we'll try and keep the factory going longer on one basic — diced tomato — that will maximise the output," he said.
Australia's largest flour producer Manildra said it was also operating its factories around the clock to meet demand.
"We continue to work with retailers and wholesalers to locally produce 100 per cent Australian flour, sugar and oil ranges to restock the nations supermarket shelves," he said.
