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UK supermarkets ration fruit, vegetables

Tuesday, 28 February 2023 12:40 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 28 February 2023 12:40 AM ]

Saeed Pourreza
PRESS TV, London

Tomatoes are one of your five a day. Giant supermarkets are only allowing customers three of these and other salad ingredients. And in places where there is availability, you'll have to pay a premium especially for out of season produce. Here's why.

Starting with climate change: 2022 was the second hottest year in Europe. Heatwaves and extreme temperature in Spain, one of Europe's biggest food producers, meant fewer crops to harvest. There was a similar problem in other supplying countries such as Morocco in North Africa.

But the UK has its own well-established food industry. One important component of it is greenhouses---many hectares of which now lay barren.

And the UK faces another particular issue. Most of its fruit and vegetables come from the European Union. The country's exit from the bloc has meant extra costs and bureaucracy added to the strain specially on the supply of perishable goods.

The solution food producing organizations give is for the government to provide more support such as replacing high carbon fertilizers with low carbon alternatives or investing more in soil-free indoor growing techniques such as vertical farming.

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food insecurity