Israel is facing another shortage of cottage cheese and white cheese, with retailers reporting that orders for large quantities are being fulfilled only partially or, in some cases, not at all.
The latest disruption comes after a brief period in which cottage cheese, white cheese and yogurt had returned to supermarket shelves. According to food-industry sources cited by The Jerusalem Post, the current shortage is primarily linked to a reduction in production days during the holiday period rather than the earlier technical failure at Tnuva's Alon Tavor plant.
Holiday Shutdowns Reduce Production
The supply chain lost several production days during the holiday period. Yom Kippur fell on Sunday and Monday of the previous week, following Friday and Saturday, resulting in almost four consecutive days without production, according to a market source quoted by the report.
The following week also had only about 3.5 production days, limiting dairies' ability to quickly rebuild inventories. Continuous production reportedly resumed only the following week.
Industry experts expect the supply gaps to narrow and dairy availability to return to normal within two days.
Tnuva's Earlier Disruption
The latest shortage follows a much longer disruption that began with a malfunction in the automated warehouse system at Tnuva's Alon Tavor plant.
Although cottage cheese continued to be produced and packaged, the warehouse system responsible for loading pallets onto distribution trucks failed, preventing part of the finished product from reaching retailers.
The disruption lasted for more than two months. Tnuva employees operated parts of the system manually while technicians from German technology company Dematic attempted to provide remote assistance. Tnuva has since said the technical problem was fixed and production returned to normal.
Demand Adds Pressure
The supply situation has been further complicated by stronger consumer demand.
Food-market sources estimate that demand for dairy products has increased by approximately 4% since the beginning of the year. When production days are reduced while demand remains elevated, dairies have limited ability to recover missing volumes quickly.
The earlier shortage of cottage cheese also encouraged consumers to shift towards white cheese, contributing to pressure on supplies of that product.
Supply-Chain Resilience in Focus
The episode highlights how even temporary disruptions at processing or distribution facilities can quickly affect retail availability when inventories are limited and demand remains strong.
For the dairy industry, the situation underlines the importance of resilient automated warehouse systems, contingency arrangements, sufficient production flexibility and close coordination between dairies and retailers.
The latest shortage is expected to ease shortly, but the combination of previous technical disruption, holiday-related production losses and higher demand demonstrates how vulnerable fresh dairy supply chains can become when several pressures occur simultaneously.
Source: Dairynews7x7 06 Oct, 2026 Read full story here
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