KANSAS CITY, MO – Some grocery stores across the US and the world are closing their meat and seafood counters in response to coronavirus (COVID-19). 

The Kroger Co., Cincinnati, has closed all personal-service meat and seafood counters, as well as salad bars. 

“You will see closures of our service departments, our meat case, salad bars," Erin Rolfes, a Kroger spokeswoman said to the Cincinnati-based Journal News. "It's not due to concerns about spreading disease... it is all just to reallocate resources to make sure the shelves are stocked." 

Steaks, seafood and lunch meat will now be sliced and packaged overnight at Kroger stores and placed in cooler for customers to grab. 

The UK grocer Sainsbury’s also announced the closure of its fresh fish, meat and pizza counters this week. The decision was made to free up the warehouse and truck capacity for higher-demand products and to reallocate workers to stocking store shelves.