Staff shortages at abattoirs on the east coast have led to red meat shortages across the state, and IGA Dalmeny owner Ian Stephens said fresh fruit and vegetables were also affected.

"Meat has been the worst one, a lot of the abattoirs have had staff issues," he said.

"Our meat prices have skyrocketed, and people like to blame the retailers but we'd rather it be cheap.

"When it's $50 a kilo for steak, we can't put too much on top of that.

"It's mainly the fresh stuff (that's been affected), because a lot of the dry stuff is stockpiled.

"If you get an outbreak at a tomato farm in Bundaberg, we'll be paying $20 a kilo for tomatoes.

"That's why meat is so dear at the moment, it's why tomatoes are so dear, and even stone fruit isn't as cheap as it usually is at this point.

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"Even mangoes have gone back up to $3 each, usually we're just about giving them away at this time of year."

Mr Stephens said liquor was also being impacted.

"There seems to be a shortage in packaging stuff," he said.

"Carlton United Breweries has stopped producing a lot of their slower beers that come in cans. Tooheys has had some issues too, the slower products like Tooheys Old hasn't been available for at least three weeks.

"I've had a few older blokes come in and get a bit grumpy because that's the type of beer they drink, but most people have been pretty good."

Dean Friskin of Narooma IGA also confirmed stock shortages at his store.

"We are starting to run low on some stock," he said. "We're ordering the stock, it's just not turning up."

A spokesperson from Coles said they were aware of "supply chain issues" and apologised for any inconvenience to customers.

"As called out in recent months, we have been working with our suppliers and other stakeholders to address a number of supply chain issues including availability of shipping pallets and transport capacity to ensure we can continue to provide our customers with the food and drinks they need," they said.

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"We apologise to our customers if an item they wish to purchase is unavailable when they do their shopping, and our team are working hard to replenish our shelves as quickly as possible.

"We are also seeing an increased number of team members being required to isolate due to household exposure to COVID while they wait for test results.

"We are continuing to monitor team member availability across our business."

A Woolworths spokesperson also acknowledged supply issues in their stores.

"We're currently experiencing delays with some stock deliveries to our stores due to the impacts of COVID-19 across the food and grocery supply chain," the spokesperson said.

"As a result, our stores may have reduced availability of some products at points throughout the day before they receive their next delivery.

"Deliveries continue to arrive daily and we're doing all we can with our suppliers to restock our shelves as quickly as possible, with a particular focus on fresh food and essentials lines. We expect to see availability improve over the coming weeks.

"While there are more gaps on our shelves than usual, we have enough stock coming through our network for customers to do a family shop.

"We know this is frustrating and thank our customers for their patience. As always, we ask customers to be mindful of others in their community and buy only what they need."

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An ALDI spokesperson said "although the ongoing COVID-19 situation has meant additional pressure to our operations, ALDI continues to do its best to minimise any disruption to our customers".

A spokesperson from the Transport Workers' Union of NSW said they were aware of some transport operators being down almost half of their workforce.

"We spoke to one operator ACFS, and they said over the past two weeks between 25 and 50 per cent of their workforce had been absent due to COVID-19," the spokesperson said.

"They're in isolation for a long time, sometimes up to 14 days, and just as some come back to work others have to start isolating.

"It's working its way through their entire workforce.

"If this continues, we could see situations where deliveries are on a priority basis."