Florette was forced to take the “unprecedented” step of changing the mix of salad leaves in its biggest-selling line this month because of poor weather in the UK and Continental Europe.
Florette replaced lambs leaf with baby spinach in some of its Classic Crispy bags earlier this month because it was unable to secure enough supply.
Lambs leaf is one of only three salad varieties, alongside frisée and radicchio, used in Florette’s Classic Crispy bags, and is pictured prominently on pack.
Unusual weather throughout Europe meant the transition between Southern and Northern European crops had caused a gap in supply, Florette said.
The Spanish and Italian seasons finished earlier than usual this year, and a wet winter and cold spring in the UK and Northern France led to slow growing conditions and a late start to the harvest.
“This was an unprecedented measure taken to ensure that the high quality of Florette’s product was maintained,” said commercial director Sandy Sewell.
It had chosen baby spinach as a replacement because of its mild, sweet flavour, similar to lambs leaf, and the change had occurred for a very limited period and affected less than 2% of Crispy bags, he added.
Florette said it had taken “all necessary steps” to highlight the change to consumers, such as wording on the front of the affected bags.
Growing conditions had since improved, and good-quality lambs leaf lettuce was now in full supply across the Florette range, the company said.
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