The number of fruits and vegetables that consumers are allowed to purchase has been restricted by Lidl, the newest store to do so.
Customers at the bargain store will only be able to purchase three tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers apiece due to a ‘surge in demand’ as a result of shortages at other stores, the store claims.
The action follows the introduction of comparable limits by Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, and Tesco.
There has been a shortfall of some vegetables reaching British shop shelves as a result of supply chain problems and harsh weather in south-west Europe and northern Africa.
Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, the Co-op and M&S are not currently planning to introduce constraints.
A Lidl spokesperson said: ‘As advised to our customers 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.
‘Whilst we still have good availability across the majority of our stores, due to a recent increase in demand we have taken the decision to temporarily limit the purchase of peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers to three items per person.
‘This will help to ensure that all of our customers have access to the products they need.’
Government food minister Mark Spencer has summoned supermarket bosses to a meeting, in order to find out how they plan to tackle the issues.
He said: ‘The current situation – caused by recent poor weather in North Africa – shows how dependent we can be on certain trade routes for some types of food.
I know families expect the fresh produce they need to be on the shelves when they go in for their weekly shop.
‘That is why I am calling in supermarket chiefs to find out what they are doing to get shelves stocked again and to outline how we can avoid a repeat of this.’
Like Lidl, Tesco and Aldi are limiting customers to three units of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, while Asda is also limiting customers on lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries.
Morrisons has set a limit of two items per customer for tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers.