Why is it so hard to get fruit and salad?

[ItWillWash]

Is it my area or a widespread thing?

I'm trying to order a small same-day delivery so I have lunches and breakfasts for today and tomorrow until I can do a big shop.

Morrisons have suspended deliveries on Uber due to low stock. Tesco is sold out of all varieties of tomatoes, pineapples and grapes and also don't have the yogurts I like. Asda has sold out of lettuce, cucumber, and grapes. Iceland have sold out of lettuce and cucumbers.

It was the same last time I tried to order food online. What's going on?

It's a combination of factors

• energy costs going up (so farmers can't afford to heat their greenhouses to grow salad crops through the winter)
• supermarkets not paying producers a fair price for food produced (so farmers don't plant or produce food reducing supply)
• weather (poor weather in Morocco and Spain so yields down)
• Brexit won't have helped

There have been impacts on

• pig sector (energy costs, reduced CO2 for slaughter ( it's a by product of fertiliser production which has been impacted by energy costs going up), lack of workers in slaughterhouses)
• poultry (avian flu, reduced availability of eggs caused by avian flu, increased production costs due to feed price increases)

Ed Conway from Sky did a brilliant Twitter thread on the cost of cherry tomatoes and what that tells us about the cost of living crisis. It's also on his website.

It's always multi factorial when we have supply chain issues such as this.

I was in southern Spain last January to February and again this year.

Last year was much colder (unseasonably cold for a good couple of weeks) and a lot of crops are grown in my region. They were covered this year to keep some warmth in; they weren’t last year.

But AFAIK we didn’t have the same supply issues in the UK last year!

Exactly!

Clav's link shows production down 15-20%... funny that we're the ones affected isn't it? Not other EU countries. They will obviously sell to their nearest neighbours and we are last in the queue. It's supply chain issues and set to continue for a few weeks.

Mainland Central Europe here. The shops are full.
However, food has never been cheap, and is similar to Italian posters prices.
Also, there’s always a lack of certain items out of season, they simply just don’t sell things like peaches and pineapples in February.

Winter salads are often a homemade coldslaw type thing with carrots, red cabbage, kohlrabi, apples or beetroots.

Broccoli yesterday- €3.99
Grapes - €7.99 per kg
Milk - €1.79 per litre (2 pints)
Loaf bread from bakery part supermarket - €4.50

Growing your own this summer will become more on trend if people have space.

Btw apples last well in cold storage. The ones off our tree are still good to eat in our cellar after being last picked in October. We also have butternut squash which grow easily and last all winter ( only 2 left though)

Minfilia
I was in southern Spain last January to February and again this year
But AFAIK we didn’t have the same supply issues in the UK last year!

It's not unsurprising that Spanish producers sell home-grown produce to Spanish wholesalers/retailers first.

You had a prolonged truck driver strike in March last year instead;

Spain tries again to end lorry strike as food shortages bite

www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/24/spain-tries-again-to-end-10-day-lorry-strike-over-high-fuel-prices

Then rationing of some products until the end of June;

www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-allows-rationing-products-case-market-stress-prevent-shortages-2022-03-30/

Were you in Spain or the UK in February 2017?

What is the 2017 vegetable shortage...

www.thesun.co.uk/news/2774614/vegetable-shortage-2017-supermarkets-rationing-broccoli-lettuce-crisis/

Roussette
funny that we're the ones affected isn't it? Not other EU countries

The Netherlands - supply shortage of bell peppers, cauliflowers, broccoli and iceberg lettuce;

^The only advantage is that the problem's so widespread it's accepted. There are even supermarkets that haven't offered cauliflower and broccoli for two weeks now. It's an unprecedented situation with no end in sight yet," Dennis [van Tricht]
concludes.^

www.freshplaza.com/europe/article/9503487/no-end-to-cauliflower-shortage-in-sight-yet/

Ireland -
www.dublinlive.ie/whats-on/food-drink-news/supervalu-tesco-lidl-among-irish-26296459

Aldi and Sainsbury's here were both stuffed full of fruit and veg including several types of tomatoes which I've heard people talk about being unavailable. The only thing I've noticed a problem with is eggs.

We do consume a lot of fruit and veg in the UK;

Top 10 European Countries By Fruit And Vegetable Consumption

3. United Kingdom
The United Kingdom ranks third in terms of fruit and vegetable consumption by country, and boasts the highest percentage of individuals that consume five or more portions per day – approximately a third of the population (32.9%). Overall, 78.3% of the population consume at least one portion, with 45.4% saying that they consume between one and four portions.

www.esmmagazine.com/fresh-produce/top-10-european-countries-by-fruit-and-vegetable-consumption-233253

Bloody hell, Clavs selective links. 👺 She has pasted a link from Spain from last year when there was a panic rush on sunflower oil in Spain (where fried food is very important!) from when Ukraine was invaded initially to argue that the situation in Britain now is the same as in Spain.

That is the equivalent of saying that the UK has no toilet roll at all, because there is an article in existence somewhere from the beginning of the pandemic about it.

FWIW, it is bullshit, there is no rationing in Spain. The supermarkets didnt even haven to ration sunflower oil on that ONE day mentioned from a year ago, they were just given the permission to.

Must do better, Clav.

We do consume a lot of fruit and veg in the UK

How awful. We really should be aiming for scurvy.

Hello UK. Europe correspondant here. In case your Government lies to you, I would like to point out that in other G7 nations there are NO #BrexitFoodShortages & NO #BrexitFuelShortages.
The world has Covid-19. Only the UK was mad enough to Brexit into it.

twitter.com/brothermanshaft/status/1441777195366551559

Pretty pictures of mountains of salad stuff and veg.

There’s no “we” about it.

Loads of posters from the UK are saying no problem whatsoever!!

No fruit, veg or fuel shortage in my part of the UK :/

😂😂😂😂

QuentininQuarantino
She has pasted a link from Spain from last year when there was a panic rush on sunflower oil in Spain (where fried food is very important!) from when Ukraine was invaded initially to argue that the situation in Britain now is the same as in Spain

The situation now? I was quite clearly replying to the situation in Spain in January and February 2022 - by pointing out that Spain had its own supply shortages March to end of June 2022 (for whatever reason);

The supermarkets didn't even have to ration sunflower oil on that ONE day mentioned from a year ago, they were just given the permission to

Some clearly did;
euroweeklynews.com/2022/03/05/mercadona-and-other-spanish-supermarkets-ration-sunflower-oil-because-of-ukraine-conflict/

Rationing of products such as eggs, milk and flour were also mentioned in my previous link.

Some supermarkets had to close in Spain last year as well - I think the truck drivers' strike lasted for three weeks;

alicantetoday.com/lidl-closes-two-stores-in-spain-due-to-supply-shortage_1752207-a.html

How awful. We really should be aiming for scurvy

Apparently German men eat the fewest vegetables in Europe.

Your links are totally irrelevant. I know Spain. We were caught up in the truck drivers strike last year... it was quite a spectacle being behind 100's of tractors and trucks.

It's nothing to do with now. The Mercadona's are absolutely stacked full of fruit and veg as of two days ago, Monday. I was in one.

It's amazing that there was never any bad weather in Spain or Morocco before Britain left the EU. We should have been warned that voting to leave would have climate effects.

You 'll have to ask the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the people in NI, NHS, factories, the social care sector etc etc.

Or do you see no advantages to being in an alliance with one of the worlds richest trading blocks?

Don't really remember any significant issues with veg etc in 2017.

Roussette · Today 15:41
Hello UK. Europe correspondant here. In case your Government lies to you, I would like to point out that in other G7 nations there are NO #BrexitFoodShortages & NO #BrexitFuelShortages.

Other G7 nations?

www.eatthis.com/grocery-shortages-2023/

eu.northjersey.com/story/news/business/2023/01/31/grocery-shortages-2023-list-of-products-and-why-they-are-hard-to-get/69842221007/

www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/save-your-eggs-theres-now-an-egg-shortage-in-japan-013123

I'm talking fruit and veg. Not eggs. And not Japan.

There has been avian flu affecting eggs. Even my farm up the road had to keep their chickens in, which affected how many eggs they laid.

It's amazing that there was never any bad weather in Spain or Morocco before Britain left the EU
Don't really remember any significant issues with veg etc in 2017

www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/20/losing-the-plot-courgette-crisis-spreads-to-other-vegetables

www.thesun.co.uk/living/2642951/first-spinach-and-courgettes-now-tomatoes-and-peppers-run-out-due-to-bad-weather-in-spain/

www.producebusinessuk.com/spanish-crops-still-thin-on-the-ground-as-the-impact-of-extreme-weather-continues/

www.sandwich.org.uk/index.php/news-features/57-salad-supply-plummets-following-adverse-spanish-and-italian-weather

My last link was 2018.

Roussette
I'm talking fruit and veg

Tomatoes, lettuce, oranges... are listed in my Canada/US links.

And not Japan

Japan is a G7 member. Why did you post 'other G7 nations' - did your 'Europe correspondant' [sic] mean the EU not the G7? Is he a reliable 'correspondant' [sic]?

I was in Ireland last week and all the shelves in all the supermarkets that I went to (my mum loves to shop around ) were full of all fresh produce .I live in Southern Germany and have been shopping today and there were absolutely no shortages of anything nor have there been any shortages at all this winter .

Talk Canada, US & Japan all you like. I am talking EU.

Roussette
Talk Canada, US & Japan all you like. I am talking EU.

Perhaps you are getting confused - you quite clearly posted 'in other G7 nations'