Warning over fresh fruit and veg shortages
SHOPPERS face a shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables despite the Government’s deal with the French to reopen the border.
The continuing chaos at the ports and delays in organising tests for thousands of lorry and van drivers means the traffic jams are likely to drag on for more than a week.
As a result, shoppers will begin to see a shortage of imported lettuces, other salad items, some vegetables, strawberries and other soft fruit from Spain and other areas from as early as Sunday, the Food & Drink Federation (FDF) said.
Industry leaders are also worried about imports of food ingredients used in a range of processed products including bread and chocolate.
Ian Wright, chief executive of the FDF, said: ‘Even working extremely quickly and with Calais possibly shut for Christmas Day it is clear that it could take until the New Year to return to normal operations.
‘Lorries will take time to return to their normal pattern of collection and delivery. That means we are likely to see, locally, reduced on-shelf availability of some fresh vegetables and fruits, beginning next week. We will also see potential significant disruption to the flow of ingredients into the UK.’
The German airline Lufthansa flew 80 tons of fruit and vegetables to the UK yesterday to beat the problems at Dover. The plane flew from Frankfurt and is understood to have arrived at Doncaster Sheffield airport at lunchtime.
Meanwhile, some supermarket shoppers are already being hit by shortages of fresh food as a result of panic buying that has cleared shelves and left online deliveries missing key items.
Tesco customers have complained that items such as eggs, milk, gammon joints, Christmas puddings and even turkeys have not arrived.
A similar pattern has been seen for some customers of Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose, despite the fact all the supermarkets have invested millions in expanding online shopping and delivery services.
As a result, some angry customers face a last-minute dash to the shops – and standing in long queues – to make sure they have everything they need for Christmas. Tesco has reinstated rationing on household essentials, including eggs and toilet rolls.