Fruit and veg to be ‘back to normal in a couple of weeks’ – Iceland boss

Iceland executive chairman Richard Walker said sales of frozen vegetables were up 25% since the shortages began.

Empty fruit and vegetable shelves at an Asda in east London (PA) (PA Wire)

Iceland executive chairman Richard Walker said he expects the current fruit and vegetable shortage to be “back to normal in a couple of weeks” and asked customers to “bear with us, we’re trying our best”.

Mr Walker told Kay Burley on Sky News: “If customers could bear with us, we’re trying our best but you can’t obviously stockpile fresh fruit and veg. Ultimately this is about the weather in Morocco and Spain, which are the areas where a lot of these tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, peppers come from.

“Obviously at Iceland we’re famous for frozen, and frozen sales of vegetables are up 25%. But unfortunately you can’t freeze lettuce or tomatoes or cucumber. So it only solves part of the problem.