Brits could face tomato-free pizzas as costs rocket amid fruit and veg shortages

26 February 2023 , 20:35

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Brits have been hit by fruit and vegetable shortages recently (Image: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)

Brits could face tomato-free pizzas and pasta as fruit and veg shortages see prices skyrocket.

The last week has seen a number of supermarkets introduce limits on the amount of fruit and vegetables Brits can buy.

After poor weather across southern Spain, and Morocco, areas the UK relies on for imports, produce supplies to the UK were severely disrupted.

This was exacerbated by the fact some farmers have chosen to leave greenhouses empty as fuel prices remain high.

Now Brits reportedly might be stuck with tomato-less pizzas and pasta as restaurants are forced to ration the veg, or cut back entirely due to high prices.

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Brits could be facing tomato-less pizza and pasta amid the ongoing food shortages (Getty Images)

The head of the Federazione Italian Cuochi UK (FIC UK), a chefs’ association, told The Guardian that some Italian restaurants were already changing their menus and offering tomato-less alternatives.

He said chefs were turning to white pizzas or using vegetables like courgettes or aubergines as a base for pasta sauces instead.

The FIC UK president claimed the price of some tomatoes has quadrupled over the past year from £5 a case to £20, badly impacting restaurants.

Tomatoes have been amongst the worst affected by the recent shortages as Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Tesco all introduced limits on the product.

The last week has been marked by notable fruit and vegetable shortages (Getty Images)

The chefs’ association also claimed the price of canned tomatoes has doubled from £15 a case to £30 and that cooks were even feeling the pinch as iceberg lettuces had risen from around £7 a box to £22, the outlet reported.

Mr Oliveri also told the Guardian he couldn’t “see any light at the end of the tunnel”.

Whilst some restaurant owners have found themselves forced to up their prices, others have said supplies of other tomato-based products like passata have also dropped off.

This comes after a week which saw empty supermarket shelves and product limits as the government is now set to haul supermarket bosses in to explain the problems.

Empty fruit and vegetable shelves at an Asda in east London (PA)

Asda introduced a limit of three items each on packs of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries.

Meanwhile Morrisons had a limit of two items per customer for tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and peppers.

Everything we know as UK supermarkets ration start rationing fruit and veg

Tesco and Aldi both introduced three per customer limits on peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes as well.

Speaking on Times Radio, Tom Bradshaw, the deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said the current shortages might just be the “tip of the iceberg”.

He said: "We've been warning about this moment for the past year. The tragic events in Ukraine have driven inflation, particularly energy inflation to levels that we haven't seen before.

"There's a lack of confidence from the growers that they're going to get the returns that justify planting their glasshouses, and at the moment we've got a lot of glasshouses that would be growing the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, aubergine that are sitting there empty because they simply couldn't take the risk to plant them with the crops, not thinking they'd get the returns from the marketplace.

"And with them being completely reliant on imports - we'd always have some imports - but we've been completely reliant on imports (now).

"It's really interesting that before Brexit we didn't used to source anything, or very little, from Morocco but we've been forced to go further afield and now these climatic shocks becoming more prevalent have had a real impact on the food available on our shelves today."

Kieren Williams