Supermarkets begin to lift buying limits on fruit and vegetables

After weeks of poor availability on certain lines of fresh fruit and vegetables and supermarkets placing limits on customer purchases, Retail Week understands that the situation has improved sufficiently for retailers to begin lifting some restrictions.

Discounter Lidl has removed all purchase limits, having limited customers to three per person on peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers two weeks ago.

The situation at other grocers is more complex. Asda previously had limits on tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries, but removed half of those limits last week and a further two this week.

A spokesman said three-per-person limits on tomatoes and peppers remained and noted “the situation is also improving on these products so we expect to be back to normal levels within a couple of weeks”.

Morrisons, meanwhile, has removed the purchase limits on cucumbers, but limits of two-per-person remain on tomatoes, lettuce and peppers.

Retail Week understands that temporary per-person purchase limits on items such as tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce will remain in full at both Tesco and Aldi.

British Retail Consortium director of food and sustainability Andrew Opie said supermarkets were managing the best they could, but that issues would likely persist for a few more weeks at least.

“Difficult weather conditions in the south of Europe and Northern Africa have disrupted harvest for some fruit and vegetables including tomatoes and peppers,” he said.

“While disruption is expected to last a few weeks, supermarkets are adept at managing supply chain issues and are working with farmers to ensure that customers are able to access a wide range of fresh produce.

“In the meantime, some stores are introducing temporary limits on the number of products customers can buy to ensure availability for everyone.”

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