UK supermarkets see courgette shortage
Sainsbury’s has no loose or packed courgettes available to buy on its website and Tesco conversely has loose courgettes available, but none that are prepacked.
While supermarkets are blaming bad weather in Spain for supply shortages, January dieters snapping up the nutritious veg, which has become a popular pasta substitute, have no doubt hindered the situation further.
“Courgetti”, which is basically courgette spaghetti is a rising trend for some dieters with the addition of spiralizers, which cut vegetables into various forms. With January dieters increasing their intake of vegetables this month, courgettes are in high demand.
“Courgettes take around 8 – 10 weeks to grow depending on the weather. So, given the shortages in Spain, this will either mean a shortfall on supermarket shelves until late February, or it means retailers will cover the shortfall from elsewhere depending on crop being available,” a spokesperson for the British Leafy Salads Association said.
This all follows recent events in Spain where supermarkets said that there was an “industry-wide” shortage of spinach due to torrential rain in Spain before Christmas.
A spokesperson for Tesco said: “There is availability [of courgettes] but not as much as usual due to the rain in Spain and our customers who are being more health conscious in the new year. We’ll be back to full availability in a couple of weeks.”
source: thesun.co.uk
