Supermarkets have been left with empty shelves as an egg shortage has continued in recent months.
As shoppers continue to report empty shelves, many major retailers, including Sainsbury, M&S, and Tesco, have been raising their egg prices and implementing a limitation on quantities of purchase.
- M&S: maximum of 2 packs per customer
- Sainsbury: limit of three boxes of eggs per customer
- Tesco: limit of three boxes of eggs per customer
Previously, customers could expect to pay an average of 0.99 pounds to two pounds for a pack of six range eggs, but now the cost has risen to over two pounds.
A staff member at Tesco on West Street in Sheffield, who asked not be named, said the shortage will continue in Easter according to a huge supplier reduction.
He said customers who are looking for eggs should arrive around midday after the delivered time.
Shopper Eric Davis, 24, a fitness coach said: “I already went to three supermarkets this morning, but still not finding any eggs on the shelves.
Although shops have established restrictions on how many eggs customers can buy, the market’s shelves are sometimes left bare.
In recent months, as a bird-flu outbreak has killed millions of poultry in dozens of countries and the costs of production have increased during the pandemic, as a result egg prices have escalated.
With the huge decrease in supply and unaffordable prices, the egg shortage is negatively impacting people’s lives.
Alice Shen, 19, a university student said: “ I’ll say the biggest impact of this problem to me as a student is the rising price. We used to celebrate Easter by painting and hiding eggs, but now they’re too expensive to buy.”
Mr Davis said: “To celebrate Easter, our family always makes bunny cakes and meals together, but this year we might have to change the menu due to the hard access to eggs.”
Moving closer to a fresh food shortage
Apart from egg shortages, tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and other salad items are out of shortage at the current stage.
The vegetable industry in Britain is being impacted by a combination of high energy costs and a shortage of crop pickers. This has resulted in many retailers having to import vegetables from other countries.
Meanwhile, poor weather conditions in Spain and North Africa, where they are primarily produced, have been identified as the main cause of recent supply shortages of certain goods.
“Now would be a challenging time for all customers and retailers in the food industry,” a staff member at Tesco on West Street added.