Lettuce have them! As the vegetable shortage worsens Spanish grocers have begun HOARDING supplies

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Shoppers are to be stopped from bulk-buying iceberg lettuce, broccoli, aubergines, tender heart cabbages and loose courgettes.

The rationing comes amid reports of panic buying in response to a growing fresh produce shortage that has left shelves empty across Britain.

Asda's customers will not be able to buy more than six of each item at its 525 outlets.

Several supermarkets have also decided to block online sales of many vegetables and salads to ensure they have enough stock for their high street stores.

There were empty containers in a Sainsbury's store in Chelmsford, Essex, following the shortage

Just a few lettuces were left at a Sainsbury's branch in Solihull, West Midlands, on Friday

Extreme weather, including droughts followed by storms, floods and snow, has devastated crops across the Mediterranean farming belt, particularly Spain.

This has caused a shortage of lettuce, broccoli, courgettes and other ingredients, which could last for months and is driving up prices. The crisis has been exacerbated by restaurants and caterers raiding stores after their wholesale suppliers ran out.

The Daily Mail revealed yesterday how Tesco is limiting customers to buying a maximum of three iceberg lettuces. Morrisons is also rationing store customers to a maximum of three – two in some places – and three heads of broccoli.

Now Asda is to stop people buying any more than six of five key vegetables. A spokesman said: 'We have taken the decision so that individual customers are able to get hold of their favourite veg. A run of unusually bad weather has resulted in availability issues … We're doing everything we can to support our growers and get back up to full supply as quickly as possible.'

Other retailers, including Ocado online, are considering rationing and the Co-op has asked customers not to bulk-buy.

But yesterday at a Sainsbury's in Southampton which warned about the low availability of lettuce, customer Wendy Smith, 67, said: 'The shelves for one type of lettuce only had two left. I think it is people panic-buying.' 

There were also empty containers at a Tesco Express in West Norwood, South London, on Friday

Hardly any tomatoes remained at a supermarket in Exeter, Devon, on Friday as the food shortage continued 

Beetroots, cucumbers, leeks and parsnips are just a few of the vegetables which are in season now 

Supermarkets are also trying to conserve supplies of vegetables and salad for their bricks-and-mortar branches by removing them from online stores.

A long list of fresh products were 'not available' on the Tesco website yesterday – no whole cucumbers, organic and tender stem broccoli, beef tomatoes, aubergines, pak choi or spinach. Many bagged salads were also unavailable.

A spokesman said: 'Our priority is to keep the shelves in stores stocked. If supplies fall below a certain level our systems make sure the products we do have go to the stores ahead of the website.'

Products listed as out of stock on the Morrisons website included bags of iceberg lettuce, wild rocket, and a large Mediterranean salad bowl.

Many products were out of stock on Ocado's website, which sells many Waitrose items. A spokesman said: 'We are not yet limiting quantities customers can buy but this is under review.' He said shoppers 'may need to be flexible about the brands or varieties they buy'.

Online yesterday, Sainsbury's had no iceberg lettuces or aubergines, Waitrose had no iceberg lettuces and Asda had no courgettes or aubergines.

Sainsbury's said: 'We take products off our website when we have limited stock to avoid customer disappointment.'

Waitrose said it takes products off the website if availability at the customer's nearest store is running low.

Spanish exporter federation Fepex has warned European vegetables will be in short supply until at least early April.

Bad weather has cut harvests by an estimated 60 per cent, with production wiped out in the Mediterranean. In a normal year, Spain ships more than 100,000 tonnes a month of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

Mitchell Redmond, who runs a fruit and veg stall in Essex, said wholesalers were charging £1.50 for an iceberg lettuce – at least double the normal price.

Ali Capper of the UK's National Farmers' Union said: 'For a reasonable price, there is plenty of home-grown fruit and veg for everyone.'

Sandwich seller's hunt for salad 

By Tom Rawstorne  

Rhys Harris, who runs a sandwich shop in Cardiff, has struggled to buy ingredients

Fresh produce aisles in supermarkets around the country were blighted by empty boxes and notices apologising for low stocks and rationing yesterday.

Courgettes and all varieties of lettuce had sold out at a Sainsbury's in Streatham, south London. Just one aubergine sat on a shelf.

Customer Jean Byrne said: 'I felt angry … It's not impossible to go further afield to places like Africa if you can't grow the crops in Europe.'

Rhys Harris, who runs a sandwich shop in Cardiff, has struggled to buy ingredients. After his wholesaler's prices rocketed, he turned to supermarkets to fill the gaps, but was shocked to find shelves almost empty of vegetables at his local Asda.

The 40-year-old said: 'Nowhere has any stock. In the last two-and-a-half weeks it's the worst I have seen it by a long way. When I should be at home relaxing I am out looking for salad.'

The Tesco in Goole, East Yorkshire, was selling imported romaine lettuces from the US. Customer Alfred Smithson, 88, said: 'It's crisis point … If we ate more of our own produce instead of shipping it in from abroad we wouldn't have this problem.' Courgette displays were empty at Morrisons in Chorlton, Manchester, and lettuce rationing was being enforced at a nearby Tesco.

At a Sainsbury's superstore in Sale, customer Ewart Dowall, 72, said: 'It's odd when you go in to buy something you expect to be there and there is a gap on the shelf.' A Waitrose in the centre of Birmingham had sold out of iceberg lettuce. Melissa Nesbitt, who was using a Tesco Express in the city, said: 'I buy broccoli all the time as well as iceberg lettuce and it's really gone up in price. Compared to last week, I'm paying 10p more.'