Stocks of tinned tomatoes are under threat globally and supermarket shelves are running out of the cupboard staple.
Used as the base of many dishes such as spaghetti bolognese, pizza, lasagne and jollof rice, the essential ingredient is running out due to supply issues.
There is a shortage of the steel sheets that are used to make the tin can which houses canned tomatoes.
Tin can supplies are limited at the moment due to a surge in demand from China. This has left manufacturers in India and Italy unable to keep up with demand,
Because of this, tomatoes are being forced to rot in the fields in countries such as Italy as the tomatoes must be canned within 36 hours of being picked.
Natasha Linhart from Italian fine food retailer Atlante told Metro: “We cannot find cans. Big multinationals are defaulting on their contracts and the price of cans has increased by more than three times.
“We don’t know how long this shortage will last, there is no end of the tunnel in sight.”
Tomato season runs between July and September which leaves farmers and retailers with limited time to fix the problem.
Italy usually produces five million tonnes of tomatoes annually but with this global issue showing no indication of an end date, it is difficult to predict when normal stocks of the cupboard staple will return.
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(Image Credit: Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash)