Thread by @MetroUK

Just as we thought things couldn't get any worse...

🚨CLIMATE CHANGE HAS CAUSED A SHORTAGE OF PASTA🚨

metro.co.uk/2021/10/05/pas…

If fuel shortages weren’t bad enough, then pasta lovers may want to take a seat.

The Italian food staple is at risk of being taken off the menu after a disastrous wheat harvest over summer, hitting supplies worldwide and causing prices to rocket.

The problem has been caused by a shortage of durum wheat after a drought and soaring temperatures hit farms in Canada, one of its biggest producers.

The key ingredient is ground into semolina to make spaghetti, penne and macaroni.

But Canadian farmers are down on the crop by 40 to 50% after a deadly summer that reached a national-record high temperature of 49.6C in June.

The killer heatwave was followed by an unprecedented drought which further harmed wheat production.

Farmers in Europe also struggled with climate change, as wheat producing regions saw extreme rain.

Flooding over summer battered the crop in France while in Italy, the home of pasta, a frosty early spring and a dry summer reduced the quality and quantity of durum wheat.

The poor harvests have hit UK supplies, with shoppers around the country complaining of pasta shortages at their local supermarket in recent weeks.

Empty shelves were seen in Sainsbury’s stores in Birmingham and Surrey today, as well as at Tesco stores in Edinburgh and Bristol.