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There are many food shortages in Venezuela. Many Venezuelans cannot buy basic goods. This problem is made worse because people buy too much of something when they see it in stores. It's kind of panic buying. President Nicolas Maduro has started new system to stop people buying too much. Shoppers must soon start scanning their fingerprints when they buy food at grocery stores and supermarkets. This is to make sure that more people can buy equal share of food and groceries. Mr Maduro has not said when new system will start, but people close to him say it could be January. It is also unclear how much food people can buy and what happens if they buy too much.

There are many reasons for Venezuela's food shortages. government blames smugglers who buy cheap goods and take them to Colombia to resell them for up to four times their original price. Another reason is that government controls price of food. Many food companies say price is too low for them to make profit, so they do not produce as much as they could. final reason is strength of US dollar against Venezuela's currency. This means it is very expensive to import food from other countries. Critics say fingerprinting takes away people's privacy and will not work. They say whole economy needs to change and that government needs to have less control.