Shortages of salad and other vegetables in UK supermarkets could last up to a month, the environment secretary has said, as the government was accused of bringing the problem on itself by failing to support local growers and through Brexit policies.
Thérèse Coffey told parliament that the shortages could take some time to resolve, after Tesco, Asda, Aldi and Morrisons introduced limits on purchases of items including tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers owing to shortages partly caused by a cold spell in southern Spain and north Africa.
Responding to an urgent question about the empty shelves in supermarkets, Coffey said: “I’m led to believe by my officials, after discussion with industry and retailers, we anticipate this situation will last about another two to four weeks.
“It’s important that we try and make sure we get different sourcing options, and that’s why the [environment] department has already been in discussion with retailers, and why there will be further discussions led by ministers as well.”
During questioning, Coffey debated whether British consumers should switch to turnips and other seasonal vegetables.
She continued to blame the weather for the shortages despite MPs pointing out that European supermarkets appeared to have full shelves, as farmers in England warned that their polytunnels and greenhouses were at risk of going out of business because of the energy costs.
Justin King, the former chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said the UK only had itself to blame for the problems. “We are uniquely exposed to imports at this time of year. There is a genuine shortage but we did rather bring this problem on ourselves.”
He said the government had not supported farmers despite their warnings about additional costs as energy and fertiliser bills had soared during the war in Ukraine. “This is a sector that’s been significantly disrupted by Brexit,” he added.
The Conservative MP Selaine Saxby suggested that people stop eating as much imported food, such as salad, in January and February. “The supermarkets are still importing far too many products for us and … actually we should be eating more seasonally and supporting our own British farmers,” she said.
Coffey replied: “It’s important to make sure that we cherish the specialisms that we have in this country. A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about aspects of lettuce and tomatoes and similar, but I’m conscious that consumers want a year-round choice and that is what our supermarkets, food producers and growers around the world try to satisfy.”
Industry insiders say big supermarkets in the UK have been hit harder than those elsewhere in Europe as they relied more heavily on these regions for produce as a way to avoid the higher costs associated with crops from heated greenhouses in the UK and the Netherlands this year.
Some suppliers say the increased costs and bureaucracy caused by Brexit have put the UK at the back of the queue for produce being imported from the EU and Morocco.
One leading retail analyst said the UK food system had been hindered by “abject policy failure and inept policy implementation” by the government.
Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, wrote in a note published on Thursday that shortages of salad in UK supermarkets came after the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) did “pretty much nothing” to help growers when costs for British glasshouses producing tomatoes, cucumbers and other delicate crops surged following the war in Ukraine.
He said problems with pork and egg production had also been allowed to gather pace as the “advisory context” in which Defra operated was “not up to scratch”.
“The treatment of the food sector is not acceptable, it is time for necessary change … big change,” Black said.
Christine Jardine, the Liberal Democrat cabinet office spokesperson, said an urgent Cobra meeting was needed as it emerged that the farming minister, Mark Spencer, was not meeting supermarkets until next week.
“People are rightly alarmed about the chronic shortage of fruit and vegetables in our shops but it seems the government has no urgent plan to fix it,” Jardine said.
Jim McMahon, Labour’s shadow environment secretary, said: “There is genuine public concern about the supply of food and I found that response to be completely detached from the reality of experiences on the ground.”
He added that shortages were a result of “dithering and indifference from government”.
Coffey said that the UK food supply chain was “highly resilient” and that item limits applied to only a small number of lines of fruit and vegetables. She added that this was simply “the nature of horticulture”.
