Shortage of nuts sparks granola crisis

FIRST it was a courgette crisis, then an avocado shortage.

Now, middle-class foodies face another calamity – granola and muesli could soon be off the menu because of a global scarcity of brazil nuts following a ‘catastrophic’ harvest.

A leading manufacturer of granola and cereal bars, Eat Natural – sold in Ireland at most stores and petrol stations – said it was changing many of its recipes because supplies had run dry. ‘We’re not going to get a single brazil nut delivered to our warehouse after June 12,’ explained the firm’s co-founder, Praveen Vijh.

‘You often get poor harvests with ingredients but nothing has ever happened on this scale before. It is a complete catastrophe. The brazil nut harvest has failed completely.’ Reports suggest this year’s crop is just a fifth of the volume produced a year ago. Despite their name, brazil nuts mostly come from Bolivia, which saw its worst drought for 25 years in 2016.

Manufacturers are scrabbling around for supplies with many saying it is touch and go whether there will be enough for the key season of Christmas.

Andrew Jackson, a director at Whitworths, which supplies supermarket own-brand nut products, said: ‘Everyone has already agreed their Christmas ranges. There’s going to be a challenge whether there will be enough brazil nuts.’

He added that the wholesale price of brazils had already doubled, meaning shops will either have to put up prices or cut them from recipes.