KITCHENER -- Pandemic concerns have caused a mad dash to grocery stores over the last week, leaving many people wondering how much longer they'll be encountering empty shelves.

The parking lot at a Waterloo grocery store was hardly empty on Thursday morning, but it was nothing compared to last week.

Shoppers lately may have noticed that lines aren't nearly as long.

Still, many are stocking up on the essentials, leading to fears about food shortages as some shelves continue to sit empty.

Evan Fraser is the director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph.

He says people shouldn't panic: Canada exports more food than it imports, meaning we should be in a good position moving forward.

"Canada has a very robust and well-organized supply chain for key items," he explains.

"This is probably mostly a short-term issue linked with people doing this run on extra groceries over the weekend and into this week. My suspicion is this will pass over the next couple of weeks."

Food trade is not currently impacted by the global pandemic, but in the event that it was, experts say 70 per cent of food in the country is from here.

Still, it's not exactly business as usual. Fraser says Canadians spend most of their income on food eaten outside of the home, meaning that a big shift will come as restaurants close their doors.

It may be a little different when it comes to fruits and vegetables, too.

Canada imports a large number of temporary migrant workers to work in the agricultural sector, but the government has closed the borders.

"There's a big impact which we're just beginning to try to wrap our heads around, figuring out how the fruit and vegetable producers are going to be able to produce their crops this year," Fraser says.

While Canada is a net exporter, the country relies on fruit and vegetables brought in from other countries.

But the timing of the virus may be our saving grace.

"Assuming that the farmers can get the labour that they need to produce the fruits and vegetables, we've actually got a very vibrant fruit and vegetable industry in this country for the summer season," Fraser says.

If COVID-19 was descending on Canada in November, he says his message would be different.