Customers of another 22 commissaries in 12 states have lost their deli and bakery services after Defense Commissary Agency officials terminated two more contracts.
Among those 22 commissaries, six also lost their sushi bars.
That brings to 44 the total number of commissaries that have lost deli and bakery services within the last three weeks.
The services were provided for all those stores by the same contractor, Nayyarsons Corp., of New Hyde Park, New York.
Last month, DeCA declined to renew a Nayyarsons contract for 22 other commissaries in nine Midwestern states.
Nayyarsons officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
"It was a decision made in the in the best interest of our customers," DeCA Director and CEO Joseph Jeu said in a statement Friday announcing the closures. "I want our customers to know that we're working diligently to get services back to normal."
Nayyarsons serves no other commissaries, officials said. DeCA has nine deli/bakery service contracts with other vendors serving 112 other commissaries.
DeCA officials are working on interim solutions, such as hiring the outgoing contractor's eligible employees temporarily to deliver limited services until a new contractor is brought on board.
Customers still can buy cold cuts, potato and macaroni salad, fruit and vegetable trays and similar items in their commissary's grocery and produce aisles. Affected stores also will get increased quantities and selections of products to help fill any short-term needs, officials said.
For the longer term, the agency will use an expedited contracting process. DeCA expects to have a new contract in place and operations fully restored in all 44 affected stores by early June, said DeCA spokesman Kevin Robinson. Previously, the timeline for the 22 Midwestern stores was mid-May, but that is now pushed to early June.
The additional 22 commissaries affected are:
Alabama: Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base Annex; Maxwell Air Force Base; Redstone Arsenal; Fort Rucker
Arkansas: Little Rock Air Force Base
Illinois: Scott Air Force Base; Naval Station Great Lakes
Indiana: Harrison Village
Kentucky: Fort Campbell; Fort Knox
Louisiana: Barksdale Air Force Base; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans; Fort Polk
Michigan: Selfridge Air National Guard Base
Mississippi: Columbus Air Force Base; Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport; Keesler Air Force Base
Missouri: Fort Leonard Wood; Whiteman Air Force Base
Ohio: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Area
Tennessee: Naval Support Activity Mid-South (Memphis)
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
