A minister in the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet suggested this week that people should eat more turnips after the ongoing shortage of fruits and vegetables led some supermarkets to set limits on customer purchases. While many cite post-Brexit trade impasse as cause behind the current shortage, the government has blamed it on weather conditions in the south of Europe and the north of Africa, the geographies from where Britain imports part of its food needs.
The shortage is likely to last for “two to four weeks more”, according to the UK Environment Secretary Therese Coffey.
Coffey suggested that a better alternative to the food items in short supply might come in the form of local seasonal produce such as turnips.
“It is important to make sure that we cherish the specialisms that we have in this country,” she said in response to a question in parliament.
“A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about aspects of lettuce and tomatoes and similar, but I’m conscious that consumers want a year-round choice and that is what our supermarkets, food producers and growers around the world try to satisfy,” she said.
A spokesman for Asda, one of the UK’s leading supermarkets, said earlier this week it was “experiencing sourcing challenges on some products” imported by Britain. Following this, the supermarket chain introduced a temporary limit of three of each product on tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli and cauliflower.
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Other supermarket chains such as Morrisons, Tesco, and Aldi too have introduced similar purchase limits.
Turnip has been associated with the peasants and was long considered a staple amongst the community. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office, however, denied any insensitivity in Coffer’s remarks, adding that she was simply “celebrating” a British produce.
(With inputs from agencies)
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