Bucatini pasta is the latest product to disappear from U.S. grocery shelves in the whirlwind year of 2020.

According to People magazine, the shortage has left many confused — including Rachel Handler, a staff writer for New York Magazine, who investigated the situation and published her findings in an article for Grub Street.

Handler went digging, and spoke to the FDA and the National Pasta Association, and she found out that the problem is three-fold:

• Major pasta makers cut back on bucatini during the pandemic to focus on production of more popular pastas.
• De Cecco bucatini was placed on import alert because the iron level was too low, which affected supply.
• But still, why the vanishing act from supermarket shelves? Turns out, environmentally-minded folks are using the pasta as straws!

Apparently, you can have your straw and eat it too, though food safety officials will tell you it’s technically unsafe to eat raw pasta, so think before you sip/bite!

Representatives for Barilla assured Handler that production on bucatini has increased and that normal quantities should resume in the near future.