SUPERMARKETS in Okehampton said this week it was too early for the foot and mouth outbreak to be having an effect on food supplies.
A spokesman for Somerfield said there were meat supplies for another two weeks and the company had contingency plans if the crisis continued.
Local butchers are reporting no meat shortages at the moment but are waiting on tenterhooks to see if the seven day ban on livestock movements is extended.
Meanwhile foot and mouth disease is having a knock-on effect on other businesses.
Jenny King, of Higher Cadham Farm at Jacobstowe, has had to lay off two full-time and 14 part-time staff from her restaurant business which relies on custom from farmers.
'Nobody wants to leave their farms and we have a sheep farm here ourselves so we are in a difficult situation,' she said.
'We are getting no income at all at the moment and the consequences could be dire if this continues.'
Mole Valley at Okehampton is frantically searching out supplies of disinfectant for which the demand is huge.
Deputy director Maria Horsley said at the moment the company could get feed supplies and oil and tractor diesel supplies to farmers but feed reps had been stopped from visiting farms and repair work to farm property had come to a halt.