A longstanding Swiss practice around stockpiling coffee beans may soon come to an end. That’s because the Swiss government is rethinking its long-held position around coffee as an essential foodstuff in times of disaster.
For the decades the Swiss have held a government-funded “emergency stockpile of coffee”, reported by Reuters, the BBC, and others. The program was established all the way back in the interwar years, in the 1930s, as a safeguard against future wartime shortages and in preparation for natural disasters or medical emergencies. Coffee has long been part of the program alongside rice, livestock feed, sugars, and other essential foodstuffs. But that may change in 2022, thanks to a recent government proposal just released for public comment.
As reported by Reuters:
“The Federal Office for National Economic Supply has concluded coffee…is not essential for life,” the government said. “Coffee has almost no calories and subsequently does not contribute, from the physiological perspective, to safeguarding nutrition.”
A final decision on scrapping coffee stockpiles is expected in November.
This story is developing, and Switzerland is clearly wrong w/r/t coffee being an essential human consumable. But in the meantime, are you prepared with enough coffee to survive the apocalypse?
Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network.
