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UK faces fig roll shortage after disease hits pollinating wasp and heat hinders crops
United Kingdom
Wednesday 23 April 2008
Some may not give a fig. But to thousands of sweet-toothed shoppers, a severe shortage of the fruit has led to bare shelves in supermarkets across the country.
One well known store has even put up notices in branches informing them why fig rolls are in such short supply. The lack of figs has been blamed on a drought in Turkey - the UK's main supplier of the fruit. Exceptionally hot weather in the region last summer had a huge impact on the number of figs grown, and also effected the survival of the pollinating fig wasp, leading to vastly depleted stocks. Supply has been further hindered by demands for extra testing of the fruit for traces of a poison known as aflatoxin, which has been found on consignments of the product. The poison comes from a natural mould that is a parasite of figs and has prolonged exposure has been linked with several forms of cancer.
At the end of last month, the head of the food incidents unit at the Food Standards Agency wrote to all British companies importing Turkish dried figs. The letter informed importers that excessive levels of aflatoxin had been found in consignments and further tests would have to be carried out on the fruit after they had arrived in the UK. Various internet discussion groups have made reference to the shortage of fig rolls available, but yesterday suppliers were determined to appear upbeat about the problem being solved. However in recent weeks, Sainsbury's went as far as putting up notices explaining the shortage of figs to their customers.
Yesterday a spokesman for the Food and Drink Federation explained: "Exceptionally hot and dry weather in Turkey, the main country producing and exporting figs into Europe, has resulted in a very poor fig harvest, down 50 per cent from previous years. "As a consequence, buffer stocks have been used up and the continuity of the fig supply to manufacturers has been affected.' She added: "With no buffer stocks available, it has not been possible to absorb the time taken to carry out extra tests to ensure that the levels of aflatoxins in the dried figs used by manufacturers are below legal limits.
One well known store has even put up notices in branches informing them why fig rolls are in such short supply. The lack of figs has been blamed on a drought in Turkey - the UK's main supplier of the fruit. Exceptionally hot weather in the region last summer had a huge impact on the number of figs grown, and also effected the survival of the pollinating fig wasp, leading to vastly depleted stocks. Supply has been further hindered by demands for extra testing of the fruit for traces of a poison known as aflatoxin, which has been found on consignments of the product. The poison comes from a natural mould that is a parasite of figs and has prolonged exposure has been linked with several forms of cancer.
At the end of last month, the head of the food incidents unit at the Food Standards Agency wrote to all British companies importing Turkish dried figs. The letter informed importers that excessive levels of aflatoxin had been found in consignments and further tests would have to be carried out on the fruit after they had arrived in the UK. Various internet discussion groups have made reference to the shortage of fig rolls available, but yesterday suppliers were determined to appear upbeat about the problem being solved. However in recent weeks, Sainsbury's went as far as putting up notices explaining the shortage of figs to their customers.
Yesterday a spokesman for the Food and Drink Federation explained: "Exceptionally hot and dry weather in Turkey, the main country producing and exporting figs into Europe, has resulted in a very poor fig harvest, down 50 per cent from previous years. "As a consequence, buffer stocks have been used up and the continuity of the fig supply to manufacturers has been affected.' She added: "With no buffer stocks available, it has not been possible to absorb the time taken to carry out extra tests to ensure that the levels of aflatoxins in the dried figs used by manufacturers are below legal limits.
