Supply shortages have hit the headlines as supermarkets have started rationing some vegetables and salads due to poor growing conditions in southern Europe.
The Daily Mail reported that Tesco had introduced a limit of three iceberg lettuces per customer in order to prevent stores from running out.
Morrisons is also limiting customers to three iceberg lettuces and three heads of broccoli. A spokesperson for the store said it was to stop local caterers and restaurants from buying up all of it stock.
The news, which was widely reported today (3 February) in mainstream media, follows reports published inFPJlast week that retailers were considering capping purchases on limited availability products, such as iceberg.
Customers have again taken to social media to post photographs of empty shelves and retail signs explaining their decision to ration purchases.
The shortage has been caused by a combination of droughts followed by weeks of heavy rainfall and floods in December and January and then freezing conditions in southern Spain, which provides around 80 per cent of the UK’s vegetables during the winter.
Spanish exporter federation Fepex has warned that shortages in some lines will continue until at least early April because planting schedules have been severely affected by the bad weather.
