As Food Prices Soar, Some Shortages Appear
Some Stores Even Rationing Staples Such As Rice; Grocers Blame Corn Diverted For Ethanol

As fears grow over worldwide food shortages, stores limit some items to customers who are already feeling the pinch from rising prices.

(CBS) A growing global shortage of food staples such as rice has led the head of the World Food Program to say a "silent tsunami" of hunger is sweeping through some of the world's poorest nations.

What's more, "Global food stocks for basic commodities like rice, wheat, other basic commodities have fallen so low that we're actually starting to see shortages here in the U.S.," Scott Faber of the Grocery Manufacturers Association observed to Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Monday. "This is a significant problem not just here, but especially in parts of the world where people are living on less than $1 a day."

CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano reports actual and feared shortages, which accompany skyrocketing prices, have led some stores to start rationing the hardest-hit staples.

In a warehouse store in Mountain View, Calif., manager Stephanie Gordon told CBS News she's "been with Costco for 21 years and I haven't seen it like this before," with many consumers stocking up on staples such as rice out of growing concern over availability. It's limiting amounts shoppers can scoop up.

The hottest seller at that Costco at the moment? Fifty-pound bags of jasmine rice -- even though rice's price has gone through the roof. A 20 pound bag that sold for $9 just two months ago now goes for $16.

Other groceries are also way up over this time last year: flour by 13 percent, milk by 10 percent and eggs by 30 percent.

The short supplies contribute to rising prices of food, along with zooming costs of the fuel to transport it.