by Ally Blake and Tom Pyman, Daily Mail:
Vegetable rationing could last for ‘weeks’, it was warned today, after Morrisons joined Asda to became the second major supermarket to limit sales of certain items.
Perishables like tomatoes, potatoes, cucumber and broccoli have been restricted to just two or three per customer in a host of stores up and down the country.
The crisis has developed in recent weeks due to soaring energy costs which have forced British farmers to switch off greenhouses as they desperately try to make ends meet – leaving a dearth of home-grown produce.
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Meanwhile, a ‘perfect storm’ of flooding, cold temperatures and cancelled ferries have caused major supply problems on the Continent, meaning supermarkets have also struggled to access imported goods.
Store bosses initially insisted that supplies will improve ‘in the coming days’, before the British Retail Consortium trade body later admitted disruption will likely last ‘a few weeks’.
Empty fruit and vegetable shelves at an Asda supermarket in east London today
Empty aisles at a Tesco store in Liverpool as a shortage of products continues to hit supermarkets
Pictured, clockwise from top-left: Cucumber, potatoes, tomatoes, sprouting broccoli, peppers, cauliflower
Minette Batters, head of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), pictured in December last year
Empty fruit and veg shelves pictured today at a Morrisons store in Paignton
Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), told the industry body’s conference in Birmingham: ‘Everybody wants to avoid rationing, effectively, which is what we saw with eggs in December but I think there are going to be challenges on availability of some food items’.
The farming union chief said that peppers and other salad vegetables grown indoors were at risk, while there are also concerns over the production of other ‘field veg’ including potatoes, cauliflower and purple sprouting broccoli.
But Ms Batters added that the ‘last thing anybody wants to do is to create a level of panic buying’.
