The 20-hour blackouts that much of the country is experiencing have caused consumers to change their eating habits for fear of losing money and to protect their own health. Meanwhile, the electricity generation was attaining only 619MW as of 4pm yesterday ? a record deficit of 827MW ? and bringing the whole country close to a total blackout. As a sign of the times, Listin Diario reporter Bredyg Disla says that Alberto de Leon, the head of the Hainamosa Retailers? Association, told her that sales of pork chops, ribs, white cheeses and other refrigerated products have fallen by 80%, and that customers have been buying these foodstuffs with tayota and eggplant over the past three months. Caridad Santana, a spokesperson for the Association of Economic Supermarkets, said that the blackouts are punishing both the suppliers and the consumers. The small and medium markets are suffering the most, according to Santana. Her group has observed that they no longer get purchase orders for meats, fish or packaged meats. She said: ?Personally, I am no longer consuming meat with the frequency that we used to because, as you can imagine, a cheese that goes several days without refrigeration represents a health risk.? Omar Sully Fermin from the Association of Fishing Enterprises said they have lost 50% of their business.