Leading supermarkets have said they would not be following Asda and Morrisons in rationing tomatoes and other fruit and vegetables but customers were warned it will be up to three weeks before stocks are replenished
Restaurant groups have also flagged up potential menu shortages after supplies were badly disrupted by winter storms and cold weather in southern Spain and north Africa where much of Britain’s fresh produce is grown in winter.
Meanwhile the start of the usual UK growing season is likely to be held up by soaring energy bills that has delayed planting under polytunnels.
Shoppers have posted pictures of empty fruit and vegetable supermarket counters on social media.
Asda said yesterday it is putting a limit of three items per customers on purchases of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries.
Morrisons said it would be introducing limits of two per customer on tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers from Wednesday.
But this morning fellow grocers Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S, Co-op and Lidl said they have not introduced any buying limits.
But Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that the trade body “anticipates some disruption” for the next two to three weeks.
However, he added that it is “a temporary problem” and supermarkets are working hard to solve it.
The shortages have also affected some hospitality businesses. Clive Watson, chairman of City Pub Group told the Evening Standard the company had seen shortages over the weekend of some ingredients: cauliflowers, aubergines, peppers, tomatoes, and courgettes.
But Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality said: “Hospitality continues to work hard to boost the resilience of its supply chain in order to minimise the impact of temporary shortages due to environmental issues of the type being seen in retail. This includes sourcing local where possible and having a multi-source supply.”
Nicholls also said: “So while we are seeing higher prices and intermittent supply disruption, we are managing to navigate through the current challenges without seeing widespread shortages and customers should be confident of having a choice of good quality, seasonal fruit and vegetables when they choose to eat out.”
