The National Farmer’s Union (NFU) has called for urgent action as the nationwide shortage of eggs has forced supermarkets to ration supplies for customers.
The warning comes at a time when people are seeing empty egg shelves, with UK food producers under pressure due to soaring energy costs, spiraling inflation and workplace shortages.
The NFU has called on the Government to back British food production to secure and maintain a steady supply of food, or risk seeing more empty shelves in supermarkets later in the year.
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Other reports say the retail and farming industry is facing a shortage of eggs for a number of reasons, including avian flu leading to a culling of flocks, or producers cutting back on the amount they are producing due to increased costs.
NFU president Minette Batters is urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to honour commitments to support British farmers through the energy crisis.
Minette Batters said: “Shoppers up and down the country have for decades had a guaranteed supply of high-quality affordable food produced to some of the highest animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards in the world.
“That food is critical to our nation’s security and success. But British food is under threat. We have already seen the egg supply chain crippled under the pressure caused by these issues and I fear the country is sleepwalking into further food supply crises, with the future of British fruit and vegetable supplies in trouble.”
Supermarkets such as Asda introduced a limit of two boxes of eggs per customer in November.
A spokesperson for Asda said: “The past few years have shown the strength of our supply chains and we are adept at managing temporary shortages of products to ensure that there are options on our shelves for our customers.
They added: “We are working hard with our suppliers to resolve the industry challenges which are currently affecting all supermarkets and to make sure as many customers as possible can buy eggs we have introduced a temporary limit of two boxes per customer.”
The news comes as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is considering relaxing free-range egg rules to help UK farmers struggling amid the avian flu outbreak.
On top of that, shoppers are to pay up to 50% more for eggs now than at the start of the year amid reported shortages in the supply chain due to avian flu.
