Lidl becomes latest supermarket to impose fruit and vegetable limits on shoppers | Business News

The Government has invited supermarket bosses to meet Food and Agriculture Secretary Mark Spencer as Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi and Asda have imposed purchase restrictions on certain vegetables due to shortages.

Lidl is the latest supermarket to limit the number of peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes customers can buy.

As in other leading supermarkets which imposed purchase restrictions on certain salad items, Lidl said the move was due to weather-related product shortages.

“As our customers were informed 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,” said the German discounter.

The measure is precautionary in nature and availability is good in most stores.

“Due to a recent increase in demand, we have decided to temporarily limit the purchase of peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers to three per person,” said Lidl. “This will help ensure that all of our customers have access to the products they need.”

It comes as UK supermarkets have been called in to answer questions from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) as vegetable shortages continue.

Representatives of major retailers suffering from shortages will meet Food and Agriculture Secretary Mark Spencer on Monday afternoon.

Lidl joins in Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Morrison who have all announced limits on some items in the past week.

“I’m calling on supermarket bosses to find out what they’re doing to restock shelves and to outline how we can avoid it happening again,” Mr Spencer said.

Today’s meeting follows talks between Environment Secretary Therese Coffey and some key retailers on Friday.

Summer droughts in Morocco and Spain, followed by cold winter weather, have resulted in crop damage. Great Britain covers a large part of its winter demand for salad vegetables at the two locations.

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At the same time, many British farmers reduce their greenhouse effect due to high energy costs. Items such as tomatoes and peppers can be grown in the UK all winter long in lighted and heated greenhouses and using gas-derived fertiliser.

But energy-intensive industries have not received the same government support as other large energy consumers. As a result, some UK farmers were deferred from planting and planted later in the year.

Supermarkets in the European Union have managed to avoid the shortages as higher prices require suppliers to prioritize them.

The problem was exacerbated by bad weather affecting sea crossings from Morocco to Spain. Fruit and vegetables from Morocco make two sea crossings: across the Strait of Gibraltar and the Channel in a voyage that takes four to six days.

The second blow to the fruit and vegetable journey came from strikes by Border Force workers and Calais dockers last week.