Tesco runs out of turnips after government told Brits to eat them instead of out-of-stock tomatoes and cucumbers
TESCO has run out of turnips after the government told people to eat them instead of out-of-stock tomatoes and cucumbers.
It comes as Brits scrabble to buy in-season vegetables with a lack of produce on supermarket shelves.
Fresh produce such as tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce are in short supply at the moment.
Environment Secretary, Therese Coffey suggested that root veg would be a suitable alternative while others remain scarce.
But just hours after the MP spoke in the House of Commons, turnips were out of stock on Tesco’s website.
When searching for turnips the supermarket offers swede, a similar root vegetable from Sweden.
Tesco shopper, Louis Henwood, said he got a message saying: “This product’s currently out of stock.”
One in-store Tesco shopper in Ely, Cambs, also found their local out of stock.
The empty crate was turned over at the store with a sign stating “Sorry out of stock”.
Other supermarkets such as Co-op, Asda and Morrisons did not list turnips at all when searched for on their websites.
It comes as UK supermarkets impose rations on tomatoes, peppers, cauliflowers and lettuces.
Brits have raced to Amazon to buy tomato seeds in a bid to swerve the shortages with the vegetable seeds topping the best-seller list.
Shortages of vegetables have been caused by extreme weather in Spain and North Africa.
Over the winter months, the majority of the UK’s salad stock comes from these regions, which have been hit by particularly cold weather.
However, the UK vegetable stock being affected by bad weather is not uncommon.
Previously in 2017, poor growing conditions in Europe – largely in Italy and Spain – meant Brits saw a lack of vegetable stock in their local shops.
While there was also concern in 2018 that an onion shortage could occur because of hot weather damaging crops.
In the same year, the growth of peas was also impacted by hot weather.
Andrew Opie, Director of Food & Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: “Difficult weather conditions in the South of Europe and Northern Africa have disrupted harvest for some fruit and vegetables including tomatoes and peppers.
“While disruption is expected to last a few weeks, supermarkets are adept at managing supply chain issues and are working with farmers to ensure that customers are able to access a wide range of fresh produce.”
The price rise of gas and oil in recent months has seen the cost of production go up, adding to the shortages.
This means that growers are not able to afford to heat their greenhouses to grow vegetables out of season.
And one British farmer said that fair trade home grown produce would be one solution to the problem.
He claims that the issue is that supermarkets and processors are not paying a “fair price” for production.
It’s important to remember that although fresh fruit and veg are affected by the shortages, not all products are affected.
The Sun has approached Tesco for comment.