If you visited a supermarket over the weekend, you may have noticed empty shelves in the fruit and veg aisle – specifically when it came to finding tomatoes.

Whether you’ve been looking for a cherry, plum or vine tomato, shoppers around the UK have been taking to social media, posting pictures of bare shelves with no juicy red fruit in sight.

Aldi, Tesco and Morrisons have also been affected by the tomato shortage and have reportedly put up signs in their shops to explain what is going on.

It’s the latest food shortage issue to disrupt households following on from the most recent egg shortage.

Why are tomatoes in short supply?

Heavy rain, flooding, cold temperatures, and canceled ferries have created the ‘perfect storm’ of growing and supply issues in Morocco, according to Fresh Produce Journal (FPJ) - issues that have been going on for the last three to four weeks.

Meanwhile in Spain, one of the UK’s biggest suppliers of tomatoes has also been experiencing bad weather.

Tomato volumes from Almeria were down 22 per cent on last year.

Are energy prices causing a tomato shortage?

It’s also been reported that rising energy costs have added to tomato supply issues.

Tomato growers are struggling to heat their greenhouses which must be heated at 20 degrees, leading to farmers delaying or reducing the size of their crops, reports the Grocery Gazette.