More food shortages: Peppers become 'latest vegetable to be rationed as Morrisons limits customer sales'
23 April 2023, 13:29
Morrisons have 'limited the sale of peppers to two per customer', with 'unseasonably cold weather' thought to be a factor in limiting supply.
A number of fruit and vegetable items have been in short supply so far this year, including tomatoes, which was also partly put down to poor weather in Spain and Morocco.
In other stores, such as Waitrose, there are less packets of peppers on offer, though the supermarket has so far stopped short of rationing the product.
"Spain is key for supplying British retailers during winter, and almost every retailer in the UK will source peppers from here', an industry source told the Mail.
"They need warmth and light to develop - green into yellow then into red."
While poor weather is believed to have played a part in the short supply of fruit and vegetables over Winter and Spring, so has Brexit, according to experts.
Ex-Sainsbury's boss Justin King says the 'terrible' weather is what's caused food shortages
Supermarkets in the UK have been 'hurt horribly by Brexit' as they grapple with the dwindling supply of fruit and vegetables, Sainsbury's former CEO previously told LBC.
Mr King told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on LBC that UK greenhouses, previously known to grow tomatoes, have suffered in recent years.
"These are products that we do produce, or in the past have produced year round in the UK," Mr King said.
He continued: "North Kent, in Thanet, [had] the largest greenhouses in Europe, which used to be full of peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes.
"But those greenhouses have suffered, really, from two big things. I hate to say it, Nick, but it's a sector that's been hurt horribly by Brexit."
