Asda supermarket begins to ration fresh fruit and vegetables with warning over panic buying

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Supermarkets across the country have begun rationing fresh food items in a move that is expected to last “weeks”. “Like other supermarkets, we are experiencing sourcing challenges on some products that are grown in southern Spain and north Africa,” an Asda spokesperson told PA. “We have introduced a temporary limit of three of each product on a very small number of fruit and vegetable lines, so customers can pick up the products they are looking for.” Minette Batters, the head of the National Farmers’ Union, told Sky News: “Everybody wants to avoid rationing, effectively, which is what we saw with eggs in December.” “But I think there are going to be challenges on availability of some food items.” She added that the “last thing anybody wants to do is to create a level of panic buying”. “Brexit is not responsible for the adverse conditions which have impacted crops this year, but it has made UK supply chains less resilient and increased costs for both importers and exporters,” chief executive Naomi Smith told The Independent. The campaigner added: “Like the £200 Brexit premium on annual food bills for Brits, empty supermarket shelves will be a more common sight until the government improves their shambolic Brexit deal.” Brexit has added an average of just over £200 a year to Britons’ food costs, according to a December study by the Centre for Economic Performance.