Asda and Morrisons imposing purchase limits on some fruits and vegetables due to supply challenges
Asda and Morrisons are imposing limits on some of the fruit and vegetables customers can buy due to supply shortages.
Asda is temporarily limiting the purchase of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries to three of each item per customer.
“Like other supermarkets, we are experiencing sourcing challenges on some products that are grown in southern Spain and North Africa,” an Asda spokesman said.
“We have introduced a temporary limit of three of each product on a very small number of fruit and vegetable lines, so customers can pick up the products they are looking for.”
Morrisons said it would introduce a limit of two items per customer across tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers from Wednesday.
The move follows a warning from the National Farmers’ Union that a range of British vegetables risk being rationed as farmers struggle with high energy costs.
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Farmers plead for government aid
Production of some fruits and vegetables grown in British heated and covered buildings – such as cucumbers and tomatoes – was already falling, the NFU president said.
“I think there are going to be challenges on availability of some food items,” said Minette Batters, including other salad vegetables grown indoors.
Vegetables grown in fields – such as cauliflowers, potatoes and purple sprouted broccoli may also be impacted, she said.
Weather in southern Europe and northern Africa had disrupted crops including tomatoes and peppers, the retail businesses trade association said.
The British Retail Consortium said Britain typically imports 95% of its tomatoes and 90% of lettuces from December to March.
Growers in Morocco have struggled with cold weather, heavy rain and floods. The problem continued down the supply chain as suppliers were hit by ferry cancellations, affecting lorry transport.
Spanish crops have also been affected by bad weather in the past three to four weeks.
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Other British supermarkets are understood to be considering limits similar to Asda.
A government energy support scheme was established for energy intensive industries but horticulture was not covered. Sectors such as steel fall under the remit of the scheme.
UK
King praises response to ‘lawless’ UK riots in Christmas message – as he gives ‘personal’ thanks to medics
The King has praised the community response to the “anger and lawlessness” of this summer’s riots in towns and cities around the UK in his annual Christmas message.
Charles, 76, also used the message, filmed by Sky News at the chapel of the former Middlesex Hospital in central London, to thank doctors and nurses who cared for him and his daughter-in-law the Princess of Wales through their cancer treatment this year.
Drawing on the Nativity story’s theme of listening to others, the King said: “Through listening, we learn to respect our differences, to defeat prejudice, and to open up new possibilities.
“I felt a deep sense of pride here in the United Kingdom when, in response to anger and lawlessness in several towns this summer, communities came together, not to repeat these behaviours, but to repair.
“To repair not just buildings, but relationships. And, most importantly, to repair trust; by listening and, through understanding, deciding how to act for the good of all.”
King Charles and Queen Camilla attend church at Sandringham on Christmas morning. Pic: PA
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Almost 1,000 people were arrested during the summer riots, which came in response to misinformation around the deadly stabbing of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport in July.
The King visited the Merseyside town after the killings and the ensuing disorder, during which rioters attacked hotels housing migrants.
His final public engagement of the year was in Walthamstow, east London, where thousands gathered in a counter-protest to condemn the rioting this summer.
The King’s Christmas message spoke of the need to support one another, as “all of us go through some form of suffering at some stage in our life – be it mental or physical”.
“The degree to which we help one another – and draw support from each other, be we people of faith or of none – is a measure of our civilisation as nations,” he said.
He added that “those who dedicate their lives to helping others… continually impress me” and he is “thinking especially of the many thousands of professionals and volunteers here in the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth who, with their skills and out of the goodness of their heart, care for others – often at some cost to themselves”.
The Prince and Princess of Wales with their children Louis, Charlotte and George on Christmas Day. Pic: PA
Reflecting on his cancer treatment, which will continue into next year, he gave his “special, heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who, this year, have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness, and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed”.
He also thanked members of the public for their well-wishes after he and the Princess of Wales, 42, returned to public duties in April and September respectively – following courses of cancer treatment.
They and other members of the Royal Family attended church near the Sandringham estate in Norfolk on Christmas morning.
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How Sky News filmed the King’s message
Thoughts with people in ‘Middle East, central Europe and Africa’
The King began his message by recalling his visit to 80th anniversary D-Day commemorations with the Queen in June.
He described meeting “remarkable veterans” and noted that “during previous commemorations we were able to console ourselves with the thought that these tragic events seldom happen in the modern era”.
But he said: “On this Christmas Day, we cannot help but think of those for whom the devastating effects of conflict – in the Middle East, in central Europe, in Africa and elsewhere – pose a daily threat to so many people’s lives and livelihoods.”
He thanked humanitarian organisations working in conflict zones and referenced the gospels’ references to conflict and the “values with which we can overcome” them.
Signing off, he wished “you and all those you love a most joyful and peaceful Christmas”.
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