Shoppers have been left frustrated after trying - and failing - to get their hands on tomatoes while doing their grocery shopping this week. Shelves in the veg aisle of many supermarkets, including Morrisons, Aldi and Tesco, have been pretty bare recently, with many shoppers taking to social media to complain about how they have been unable to find specific salad items.
"What the heck is going on," one fuming shopper said on Twitter as they grumbled that they were unable to find tomatoes, among other salad items like cucumber and peppers. Morrisons has provided an answer that might explain the lack of veg, and unfortunately the problem may last for weeks yet.
Putting up a sign in one of their stores, as reported by GloucestershireLive, Morrisons explained that their range of tomatoes has been "significantly impacted" by bad weather in Spain and Morocco. They said: "Availability across our tomato range has been significantly impacted by adverse weather conditions across Spain and Morocco. The current shortage is likely to improve within a couple of weeks."
According to the Fresh Produce Journal, a "perfect storm" of flooding and heavy rain, cold temperatures and cancelled ferries have caused major supply problems in Moroccan tomatoes. The problem has been ongoing for the past three to four weeks.
Meanwhile, another major supplier of tomatoes during winter is Spain, which has also reportedly been badly affected by the weather.
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Shoppers have reported a lack of tomatoes in supermarkets up and down the UK, with complaints on social media ranging from Dalmarnock in Glasgow to Minehead, Cardiff and Weymouth, with stores affected including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Lidl, Aldi and Morrisons. One shopper said: "Tesco extra today. Serious lack of fresh produce. Only wanted tomatoes and there were none. Went to Aldi next door - none. Waitrose only had a couple of packs."
Another wrote: "Every time I've been into my local @Morrisons store in the last week there have been no tomatoes of any type or iceberg lettuce."
