Britain’s biggest supermarket group Tesco on Wednesday followed rivals Asda, Morrisons and Aldi in introducing customer purchase limits on salad vegetables after supplies were hit by disrupted harvests in southern Europe and northern Africa.
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Tesco has introduced a purchase limit of three items per customer on tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.
German discounter Aldi’s British arm had earlier on Wednesday announced the same limits.
Asda introduced purchase limits on eight rows of vegetables and fruit on Tuesday, while Morrisons introduced them on four rows from Wednesday.
Britain’s No. 2 supermarket group Sainsbury’s SBRY.L, Co-operative and Lidl GB currently have no purchase limits in place.
This week, social media has been abuzz with images of empty fruit and vegetable shelves in supermarkets, with tomatoes in particular shortage.
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“Difficult weather conditions in southern Europe and northern Africa have disrupted harvests for some fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes and peppers,” Andrew Opie, head of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, which represents all major supermarkets, said on Wednesday.
The disruption is expected to last for a few weeks, he added.
— Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Kylie MacLellan, William James and Christina Fincher
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