Burger King in India says tomatoes 'need a vacation' too — they have been removed from the menu due to inflation

• Burger King in India has taken tomatoes off the menu due to food inflation, per Reuters.
• Signs outside two outlets in the country explained that it's because tomatoes "need a vacation" too.
• Tomatoes prices have shot up drastically due to India's food inflation, which is at its highest since January 2020.

Burger King in India has stopped serving tomatoes as a result of food inflation in the country, which is at its highest this week since January 2020, per Reuters.

But two of the fast-food chain's outlets in India have decided to put a lighthearted spin on explaining the ingredient's absence.

"Even tomatoes need a vacation... we are unable to add tomatoes to our food," signs posted outside these two outlets said, per Reuters. 

Burger King, which has over 400 outlets in India, is the latest fast-food giant in the country to remove the ingredient from their menus, per Reuters.

McDonald's in India stopped serving tomatoes in July due to quality concerns as a result of shortages in supply, per CNBC TV18.

Following McDonald's, Subway in India also dropped tomatoes from its menu that same month, the Times of India reported.

Like McDonald's, notices outside a few Subway outlets in New Delhi attributed the unavailability of tomatoes due to quality issues.

"Despite our best efforts, we are not able to get adequate quantities of tomatoes which pass our world class stringent quality checks. Hence for the time being we are forced to serve you products without tomatoes," a notice at a Subway outlet at the New Delhi airport read, per the Times of India. 

The prices of tomatoes have increased drastically in recent months.

The daily average retail price per kilogram of tomatoes was 119.16 rupees, or $1.43, on July 16, up from 34.66 rupees, or $0.42, almost one year ago on August 16, 2022, per data from India's Department of Consumer Affairs.

In an effort to manage the tomato crisis, the Indian government has organized a fleet of vans to sell the crop at cheaper rates across the country, per Reuters.

The National Cooperative Consumer's Federation of India posted a video on X — formerly known as Twitter — depicting the scene at one of these initiatives. In the video, many people can be seen queuing to buy tomatoes from a truck.

Ironically, the current tomato shortage in India comes right after a bumper harvest that caused prices to crash, per The New York Times.

In May, some farmers even resorted to dumping tomatoes on the road because they were unable to sell them, per the Times of India.

Burger King did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.