LIDL has become the latest supermarket to place a limit on the amount of fruit and vegetables which customers are able to buy.
Shoppers will only be allowed to purchase three tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers each as it says there has been an “increase in demand” due to shortages at other shops.
The move comes after Aldi, Asda, Morrisons and Tesco introduced similar restrictions.
Issues with supply chains, climate change and skyrocketing energy prices hitting farmers have all been blamed for the shortages.
The UK Government’s Food Minister Mark Spencer has summoned supermarket chiefs to explain “what they are doing to get shelves stocked again” amid shortages of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Specifically, he said the situation was being caused by “recent poor weather in north Africa” and that it showed “how dependent we can be on certain trade routes for some types of food”.
A Lidl spokesperson said: “As advised to our customers through signage in our stores last week, adverse weather conditions in Spain and Morocco have recently impacted the availability of certain salad items across the supermarket sector.
“Whilst we still have good availability across the majority of our stores, due to a recent increase in demand we have taken the decision to temporarily limit the purchase of peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers to three items per person.
“This will help to ensure that all of our customers have access to the products they need.”
Tesco and Aldi are limiting customers to three units of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, while Asda is also limiting customers on lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries.
Morrisons has set a limit of two items per customer for tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers.
