VULNERABLE members of the community are being faced with empty shelves amid panic buying triggered by fears around the coronavirus.
National food aid charity FoodBank says pensioners, retirement home residents and people with disabilities having to head home empty-handed as essential food items and toiletries are being bought in bulk.
Bare shelves have prompted Woolworths to apply a limit on toilet paper packs per customer to ensure more people have access to the products.
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READ NOWBut frantic shoppers are also stocking up on other staples including pasta, tinned food and Tim Tams.
Foodbank Australia says many people struggle to duck to the shops when they run out of essential items.
“Let’s all please remember there are special groups of people in our community who do not have the ability to shop on a regular basis, and when they do, they really need the essentials, such as toilet paper, tissues and basic pain relief to be readily available,” Foodbank Australia said on social media.
“In the past few days we’ve seen images of empty shelves across the nation, yet our most vulnerable community members – pensioners, residents in retirement homes and people with disabilities, are turning up to their local shops on their weekly shopping trip, only to face bare shelves and head home empty handed.
“Our aging parents, our grandparents, our elderly neighbours and the vulnerable, struggle to duck to the shops when they run out of items. Travelling from suburb to suburb looking for essentials is out of the question along with online shopping.
“By all means, be prepared and stock up on two weeks worth of essentials, but please ask, do you really three or six months worth of products?”
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