Monday, March 06, 2023
Public blame Brexit for food shortages
The Independent reports that most voters think Brexit is to blame for widespread shortages of fruit and vegetables on supermarket shelves.
The paper says that in a Savanta survey, the majority of the public (57 per cent) said Britain’s exit from the EU was behind the lack of fresh produce:
Only one in three (36 per cent) said Brexit was not to blame. The poll also discovered 57 per cent had been affected by shortages while 40 per cent were unaffected.
Unusual weather which has hurt crops in Spain and north Africa has been blamed for UK shelves being short of tomatoes and other fresh produce.
But farming campaigners and food experts have pointed to Brexit for the particularly acute shortage in Britain – describing the idea of Spanish weather being solely to blame as “absolute nonsense”.
It comes as The Independent revealed that millions of pupils face missing out on fresh fruit and vegetables after the food shortages hit school meals.
School meal providers say items such as lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers are among the items off the menu due to “extreme shortages” and “unviable costs”, with ministers now working with schools to try to minimise the impact.
In an email sent to primary schools, meals provider Caterlink, which provides more than a million meals a week to 1,300 schools, said certain fresh goods would not be available for two weeks from 1 March.
If only the rest of the UK could have the deal recently agreed for Northern Ireland.
The paper says that in a Savanta survey, the majority of the public (57 per cent) said Britain’s exit from the EU was behind the lack of fresh produce:
Only one in three (36 per cent) said Brexit was not to blame. The poll also discovered 57 per cent had been affected by shortages while 40 per cent were unaffected.
Unusual weather which has hurt crops in Spain and north Africa has been blamed for UK shelves being short of tomatoes and other fresh produce.
But farming campaigners and food experts have pointed to Brexit for the particularly acute shortage in Britain – describing the idea of Spanish weather being solely to blame as “absolute nonsense”.
It comes as The Independent revealed that millions of pupils face missing out on fresh fruit and vegetables after the food shortages hit school meals.
School meal providers say items such as lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers are among the items off the menu due to “extreme shortages” and “unviable costs”, with ministers now working with schools to try to minimise the impact.
In an email sent to primary schools, meals provider Caterlink, which provides more than a million meals a week to 1,300 schools, said certain fresh goods would not be available for two weeks from 1 March.
If only the rest of the UK could have the deal recently agreed for Northern Ireland.
