The economic crisis is deepening on the other side of the Channel. No more than three batches of tomatoes, peppers or broccoli: British supermarkets are currently affected by shortages of certain fruits and vegetables which is pushing some stores to ration the number of products per customer. “Difficult weather conditions in southern Europe and northern Africa have disrupted the harvest of some fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes and peppers,” said Andrew Opie, an official with the BRC trade federation.

The federation confirmed that some stores in the country have introduced temporary limits on the number of products customers can buy to ensure availability for everyone. The outages are expected to “last a few weeks,” Opie added. “Supermarkets are experts at managing supply chain issues and working with farmers to ensure customers have access to a wide range of fresh produce. »

“Like other supermarkets, we are experiencing supply difficulties for certain products grown in southern Spain and northern Africa,” a spokesman for the Asda store chain said in a statement.

“We have introduced a temporary limit of three per product on a very small amount of fruits and vegetables,” he added. The measure targets lots of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries. Beyond these specific problems, British farmers had warned in December that the UK was headed straight for a food supply crisis due to the high costs hitting professionals in the sector.

government relief plan

The government announced on Tuesday at the annual conference of the National Farmers Union (NFU), the country’s main farmers’ union, that more than £168m in subsidies for British farmers this year to “stimulate innovation, support production of food, improving health and well-being and protecting the environment”.

These subsidies will be paid in parallel with the establishment of “environmental soil management programmes”, which will replace European aid after Brexit, the executive said in a press release.