Shortage Of Reddi-wip, Other Whipped Creams Due To Cantonment Explosion

December 16, 2016

A nationwide shortage of canned whipped cream is being attributed to a fatal explosion in Cantonment in late August.

A local man was killed in the explosion of several nitrous oxide tanks  in a loading bay at the Airgas plant near Ascend Performance Materials on Old Chemstrand Road.

The chemical is used as a medical anesthetic and as a propellant in foods like Reddi-wip and other canned whipped creams. There’s a priority for medical uses among the remaining nitrous oxide supply.

“Due to an industry-wide supply issue, there is currently a shortage of some whipped toppings, including Reddi-wip. We are proactively managing the production of Reddi-wip, and are doing the best we can to make it available to as many consumers as possible,” Reddi-whip spokesperson Lanie Friedman said. “To clarify, this is impacting any company that uses nitrous oxide in food, so not just our brand. Obviously, medical usage of nitrous oxide takes priority at this point.”

“In late August, an incident occurred at a production facility in Cantonment, Florida operated by Nitrous Oxide Corp, an Airgas company (“Airgas Nitrous Oxide”), that impacted production at the facility indefinitely as well as Airgas Nitrous Oxide’s supply of nitrous oxide in the short-term. Airgas Nitrous Oxide is making all possible efforts to remedy the situation as quickly as possible. Impacted customers, including those who manufacture whipped cream, have been notified directly,” said Sarah Boxley, a spokesperson for Airgas.

The canned whipped cream shortage should be short lived, at least for the Reddi-wip brand.

“We should have our full supply up and running by February. Again, we encourage shoppers to stock up early on Reddi-wip during our peak holiday season,” Friedman said.

Comments

15 Responses to “Shortage Of Reddi-wip, Other Whipped Creams Due To Cantonment Explosion”

  1. fred on December 18th, 2016 7:55 am

    They have it at Publix. I like Sherry’s recipe, but I’ll just use the canned stuff for convenience.

  2. mike on December 17th, 2016 6:11 am

    A favorite of Tony Soprano’s, he’d put it on his ice cream. Not sure I’d like that combo. :)

  3. Kimberly on December 16th, 2016 9:26 pm

    @RJ… Right on!!!

  4. RJ on December 16th, 2016 7:08 pm

    That super popular frozen spoonable “cream” in a tub is whipped topping, totally artificial, may not have any natural dairy in it at all.
    Canned milk and skimmed milk can be whipped if you have a speedy immersion blender.
    Be careful with whipping cream and heavy cream. If you overwhip it, you will have homemade unsalted butter, another real food.

  5. Michael Weaver on December 16th, 2016 5:20 pm

    Calm down folks. The story is just covering a real life news topic. Stop taking EVERYTHING so serious/personal. Yeah it was a sad thing a man died but damn , it’s just a news story.

  6. Fred on December 16th, 2016 5:11 pm

    The article is not in anyway stating that a can of whipped is in anyway more important than Mr. Folmars life. It’s rediculous the spin that some readers put on these articles.

  7. old man on December 16th, 2016 4:45 pm

    this product is a by porduct of the nitric acid process nitric acid is a food presertive also used to make ammoniun nitrate [ferlizer] the things we dont know about our food is amazing

  8. bartender on December 16th, 2016 2:33 pm

    all i can say is,it wasnt worth a mans life but its gona be a good way to jack up the price when it does come out.

  9. William on December 16th, 2016 11:18 am

    >>>sad that the family of the young man who lost his life has to see stories about a whipped topping story due to the incident.

    I don’t disagree. But it’s not a story we could ignore since it’s in the national news.

  10. (Unknown) on December 16th, 2016 11:06 am

    You can still get the normal whip cream in the tub instead of that cheap stuff.

  11. firemom on December 16th, 2016 10:41 am

    sad that the family of the young man who lost his life has to see stories about a whipped topping story due to the incident. Life or whipped topping…sad sad world we live in

  12. Lake Brooks on December 16th, 2016 10:11 am

    As much as I love whipped cream, let’s all remember the Folmar family this holiday season as they lost a great gift to earth.

  13. Sherry on December 16th, 2016 9:12 am

    Whipped Cream: 1 small carton whipping cream, 1 T sugar or powdered sugar, 1/2 teas vanilla. Whip w/portable mixer til desired stiffness. Refrigerate.

  14. Willis on December 16th, 2016 8:44 am

    Now that’s a sure way to sell every available can.
    Sorta like the toy of the year that Noone can find.

  15. common_sense on December 16th, 2016 8:03 am

    if only there were some other way to package whipped cream – say, in a resealable container that you can open and remove a selected portion with a spoon…