Fruit and vegetables are unlikely to go missing from supermarket shelves despite the ongoing air shutdown, new figures show.

The Fresh Produce Consortium said just 1.53% of the UK’s fresh fruit and veg reached the country via airfreight.

Although the UK imports almost 90% of its fruit from abroad and around 40% of its vegetables, most comes by sea as the cost is far lower.

Waitrose said the supply of only "a handful" of products had been affected by the restrictions on flying, including fresh pineapple chunks from Ghana and baby sweetcorn from Thailand.

But the Freight Industry Association claimed some types of food would go missing from stores shelves this week due to the restrictions on flying caused by the Icelandic volcano eruption.

“The knock-on effect is likely to continue for the next couple of weeks because of disruption to the supply chain,” a spokeswoman for the group warned.

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