Lidl follows rivals to ration vegetables amid acute shortage

Lidl has become the latest major supermarket chain to ration sales of some fruit and vegetables after some rival retailers implemented their own restrictions amid acute shortage int the country.

Lidl said it had introduced a buying limit of three items per customer on peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers after a “recent increase in demand”.

“As advised to our customers through signage in our stores last week, adverse weather conditions in Spain and Morocco have recently impacted the availability of certain salad items across the supermarket sector,” a spokesperson said.

“While we still have good availability across the majority of our stores, due to a recent increase in demand we have taken the decision to temporarily limit the purchase of peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers to three items per person. This will help to ensure that all of our customers have access to the products they need,” The Guardian quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Lidl’s move follows similar actions by Tesco and Aldi which are limiting customers to three units of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers as a precautionary measure. Asda is also limiting customers on lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries. Morrisons has set a limit of two items per customer across tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers, stated recent reports.

The news comes as supermarket bosses are told to review their supply chain. Food and farming minister Mark Spencer on Monday (28) met with executives of Britain’s major grocers to hear what they were doing to alleviate the supply issues.

The British Retail Consortium, which represents supermarket groups, said the retailers told Spencer they were working to address the current challenges and confirmed that customers should start to see an improvement in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has warned that shortages of some fruit and vegetables in UK supermarkets could be “the tip of the iceberg”.  UK has “hit a tipping point” and needs to “take command of the food we produce” amid “volatility around the world” caused by the war in Europe and climate change, reports quoted union’s deputy president Tom Bradshaw as saying.