Sainsbury’s insists empty shelves an ‘isolated’ incident

Empty shelves have been spotted in a Sainsbury’s store amid fears that food shortages could get worse in the coming months.

Sheila Duncan shared photos on her X account of bare fruit shelves at Sainsbury’s in Canterbury, Kent, which she took during a shopping trip at lunchtime on Sunday 19 May.

I’ve just paid a lunchtime visit to Sainsbury’s Canterbury (not my regular supermarket), and was shocked to see so many empty shelves in the fruit aisles. What has happened? @sainsburys #torybritain #brexit pic.twitter.com/LHGTpsSJyI

— Sheila Duncan (@i_pinkwolfie) May 18, 2024

She told Farmers Weekly: “I was not greeted with the usual supermarket entry display of fresh fruit, but shelves of empty boxes, and no available staff, to enquire if they would be replaced soon.”

See also: Key takeaways from Farm to Fork 2024

But a spokesperson for Sainsbury’s, played down concerns about food shortages, saying the store temporarily ran low on some fruit. “All our stores continue to receive regular deliveries and the store is fully stocked again now,” added the spokesperson.

The British Retail Consortium said it does not comment on individual cases. Speaking on behalf of the retail industry, Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability, said:

“Difficult weather conditions have impacted the harvest for some crops. However, food retailers are adept at managing disruption and will take all necessary measures to minimise any impact on customers.”

The Cold Chain Federation, which represents the temperature-controlled logistics industry in the UK, said it had not heard widespread reports of empty supermarket shelves and vowed to “monitor the situation closely”.

Government funding

Prime minister Rishi Sunak last week announced plans to “turbocharge” the UK’s horticulture sector, including doubling public funding to £80m, with £10m for orchard growers.

Liz Webster, founder of farm lobby Save British Farming, warned the impact of the wet weather and a “very imperfect system” of border checks “is only going to deliver more inflation and more empty supermarket shelves, especially for fresh produce”.