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Scorching 40C heatwaves leave Britain at severe risk of food shortages

Britain's fresh grub supplies were put under 'severe pressure' in the baking temperatures which were seen last week, according to the UK Cold Chain Federation

[Experts have raised the alarm]

Experts have raised the alarm(Image: William Dax / SWNS)

Britain is facing a food shortage crisis due to the scorching heatwaves. The nations fresh grub supplies were put under severe pressure in the baking temperatures last week.

And Phil Pluck, head of the group which represents cold storage firms, warned refrigerated warehouses were pushed to their limits as the mercury rocketed to 37C. It comes after fuming shoppers were left hot under the collar over supermarket freezers and delivery systems breaking down.

Mr Pluck said the scorching conditions were a warning that key food infrastructure had been designed for a cooler climate. The boss of the UK Cold Chain Federation said: We all breathed a sigh of relief come Saturday when we could see this particular heatwave was going.

[They fear the impact on our food supplies]

They fear the impact on our food supplies(Image: Witthaya Prasongsin via Getty Images)

But we know the next ones on its way. The chief added: We were not going to collapse last week, but we were under severe pressure and really it just acts as a warning. If things get to 39C or 40C and that continues for more than five days and we arent that far from that then we probably will see major breakdowns.

Mr Pluck has called on the Government to class the cold chain as critical national infrastructure, allowing large warehouses priority emergency access to the power grid. He said roofs of key warehouses had soared to as high as 50C, stretching their ability to keep the required -20C below.

Over half of our temperature control warehousing is old. Its equipment was designed for yesteryear. It was designed for those terrible peaks when we would get news stories saying, Gosh, we might hit 30C for one day.

The 460 big UK warehouses were estimated to have guzzled the same energy as Greater Manchester and Leeds combined during last weeks roasting temperatures.

Mr Pluck added: We tried to get more power from the grid last week to keep those refrigeration units going, so that we could keep the shelves full and keep people fed. The grid effectively responded by saying, We have no capacity either.

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