Japanese Potato Shortage Restricts McDonald’s Menu

导读:黄油短缺刚过去，日本又迎来了土豆短缺，这可急坏了麦当劳，如果你现在身在日本，可能只能点小薯条了。

The Japanese branch of McDonald’s is taking drastic measures in light of a potato shortage: It’s removing medium and large fry orders;from the menu. Small fries will still be available. A total 3,100 locations will be affected, starting Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. local time. "This is a measure we’ve decided to take because we might run out of fries,” the company said in a statement. “We apologize to customers for the inconvenience.”
麦当劳日本分公司针对日本土豆短缺采取紧急措施：停止供应中包和大包装的薯条，只供应小薯条。从当地时间周三上午十点半开始，日本共有3100家分店受到影响。麦当劳在一份声明中表示，“这是我们决定采取的措施，因为我们的薯条可能会消耗完。对客户带来的不便，我们深表歉意。”

This comes just as Japan recovers from a butter shortage which limited residents to one pack per grocery trip, if they could even find it in shops.
日本才从黄油短缺中恢复过来就碰到了土豆短缺。日本要求民众在杂货店每次只能买一袋黄油，如果他们还能买得到的话。

The latest shortage is due in large part to union contract negotiations on the West Coast of the United States. The negotiation between dockworkers and the association of shipping lines as well as terminal operators has created shipment delays since October, Russia Today reported. At the same time, a lack of tractor trailers on U.S. farms and changes to railroad services have caused further delays to potato shipments.
此次土豆短缺是很大程度上是因为美国西岸的劳资纠纷。据《今日俄罗斯》报道，码头工人和国际海岸及仓库工会10月份开始的谈判导致货船进出货延误。同时，美国农场拖拉机拖车短缺，铁路服务发生变化进一步造成马铃薯出货延误。

The United States is Japan’s leading potato source, the country imports $336 million in food from around the world each year. The American Potato Board determined shipping time to Japan had jumped from two to four weeks since these issues began.
美国是日本最重要的马铃薯来源，每年日本从世界各地进口3.36亿美元的食物。这些问题开始之后，美国马铃薯协会决定到日本的货船的出货时间从两个星期一下延长到到四个星期。

In addition to restricting its fry menu, McDonald’s has taken steps to secure the import of 1,000 tons of frozen fries via airlift. They are expecting 1,600 tons to arrive in January from East Coast ports, not affected by the negotiation issue. Still, McDonald’s worries they will be completely out of fries by late December or early January if the menu restriction does not go into effect. McDonald’s intends to keep this restriction in place "until a stable supply of potatoes is in sight.
除了对薯条采取限量供应，日本麦当劳已经空运了1000 吨薯条以解燃眉之急，甚至打算“绕远道”以海运的方式从美国东岸码头再船运 1600 吨薯条过去。不过，麦当劳担心，如果菜单供应不起作用，12月底或者1月初他们就会没有薯条可卖。麦当劳打算继续限量供应薯条，直到土豆供应稳定以后。

来源:爱语吧爱语吧作者:summer