Watford supermarkets are limiting egg purchases for customers after a national shortage hit supply.
The worst ever wave of bird flu and rising costs has caused Tesco to follow Asda and Lidl in limiting the number of boxes customers can buy.
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The Watford Observer visited Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s in North Watford on Thursday (November 24) to see how supplies are holding up.
All three still had eggs on their shelves but stocks were noticeably lower than usual, and they all had signs warning of the shortage.
Syed Aziz, a store manager at Watford's Asda, said: "It’s a nationwide problem, in every supermarket it’s the same situation.
“We’ve managed to get a replacement line until we go back to normality. Normally we have a big range, but we want to have some sort of availability.
"A week ago, we didn’t have anything so luckily we have this now."
The store manager added, tongue-in-cheek, "maybe the hens are on strike".
Signs on the egg shelves said: “At this time of high demand we're working hard to keep our shelves stocked with items for everyone.
“We’ve always been proud to serve our customers with great items, and we’d ask all our customers to please shop responsibly so we can help make sure there is enough to go around.”
Mr Aziz added: “We want it to be fair to everyone, everyone needs the essentials.”
Tesco and Sainsburys did not allow the Observer to take photos in the store but the stock situation was similar, with areas of the shelves empty but some stock still there.
A similar sign in Tesco Extra, in St Albans Road, said: “So that everyone can get what they need we’re limiting these products to 3 per customer.”
The supermarket has said this is a precautionary measure.
There is no limit for customers at Sainsburys in Cow Lane, but a sign said: “We are currently experiencing supply issues across our fresh eggs range, we are working hard to resolve these and apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
The National Farmers’ Union has called for an urgent investigation into the supply disruption.
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