YOUR WEB GUIDE TO EMERGENCY AND DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND SURVIVAL

Panic Buying Triggered by False FEMA Rumor

There have been persistent rumors that FEMA is buying up all freeze-dried, dehydrated and meals ready to eat (MREs) to the tune of $1 billion, enough for 420 million meals. After talking to FEMA, we have determined that rumor to be false.

The story is all over the blogosphere, but it's based on assumptions that should not have been made. According to that agency, it is not true. In fact they didn't even know about the rumor until I told them. They are not driving the buying frenzy.

Largely because of the rumors, purchases of survival foods have skyrocketed, with some suppliers saying they won't be able to ship for as much as eight weeks, if then.

Just two weeks ago, when we last monitored sales, there were no warnings on any survival Web sites we monitor. Now all of the big ones have messages about supply shortages.

The excuses for the sudden purchasing tsunami are varied. In fact, only one, Mountain House got it right. They posted the following on their site:

"Dear Valued Customers:

"In response to the recent concern of FEMA purchasing Mountain House products: FEMA posted the following RFI (Request for Information) on 1-20-2011. In the RFI, FEMA was asking for information for 14M/day [14 million meals per day] for 10 days.

"They then withdrew the RFI on 1-27-11. The RFI is a request for information only. It is not an order. In addition, this RFI was never sent to Mountain House. This is to confirm that Mountain House is not supplying FEMA or any other Government agency with Mountain House #10 cans or pouches.

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) procures and stores pre-packaged commercial meals to support readiness capability for immediate distribution to disaster survivors routinely. The purpose of this Request for Information is to identify sources of supply for meals in support of disaster relief efforts based on a catastrophic disaster event within the New Madrid Fault System for a survivor population of 7M to be utilized for the sustainment of life during a 10-day period of operations.

"Currently our inventory for both cans and pouches is all being shipped to our retailers. Once all of our retailers are back in stock 100%, we will put items back in stock on our own website. For our #10 cans, we do have a small number of dealers that you can contact for future ordering of our food storage items. Although they are not taking any orders at this time, we do suggest you contact them to see how you can be notified as soon as they are in a position to once again accept new orders. For a list of those dealers, please contact us at MH-Info@ofd.com

"We expect this situation to be necessary for several months although this isn't a guarantee. We will update this information as soon as we know more. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience. We sincerely hope you will continue to be Mountain House customers in the future."

So the the rumor is based on an RFI (Request for Information), but some sites are claiming it was an RFP (Request for Proposal—basically an invitation to give the government a quote and a very different document). FEMA did not post an RFP, it mistakenly filed an RFI, and the agency had not actually placed an order.

When I spoke to some of the suppliers, none said they were selling to FEMA.

My request for an explanation from FEMA brought this:

"On background, in FEMA's ongoing efforts to prepare for all hazards, we are constantly engaged in planning for disasters both large and small. As a part of these efforts, each year, FEMA, along with our federal, state, local, and other partners—including the private sector and volunteer groups, participates in the National Level Exercise (NLE), which is a large scale exercise that simulates the response to a catastrophic disaster.

"This year's NLE will simulate a large scale earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The Request for Information (RFI) was prematurely posted on FedBizOpps in an attempt to gather information from potential venders that may be able to provide commodities that could be needed in such a scenario, however the RFI was canceled, because FEMA's partner, the Defense Logistics Agency is responsible, through inter-agency agreement, for providing commercial, shelf-stable meals (i.e., the civilian equivalent of military meals ready to eat (MREs).

"For more information, visit: NLE"

I'm sure skeptics will regard this with disbelief, but it is confirmed by Mountain House Foods, one of the biggest suppliers of survival foods (see below).

Truly, the government does buy from such suppliers on an ongoing basis, so there is nothing particularly suspicious here.

We keep a very close eye on these sites to be able to advise you if there is a sudden buying spree, and this is very real. If you are interested in buying such foods, we suggest that you place your orders so that you will get your supply as soon as possible.

But, if you are going to place an order, be practical. Don't max out your credit cards. Be prepared, but keep it within your means. Year-long supplies of survival food cost upwards of $4,000 to $6,000, and in some cases that's for one to three people. That is a lot of food, and you may not have the space to store it.

We recommend that you buy enough to get you through several months. We also recommend that you invest in vegetable seeds. If some catastrophe befalls us, you can plant a vegetable garden. Perhaps more importantly, along with precious metals, seeds could well become a currency of exchange should society collapse for any reason. In fact, seeds will be considered extremely valuable, while cash could become worthless.

There is no need for panic buying of survival foods. Be prepared, but do so wisely.