A WEYMOUTH butcher says we are facing the worst food shortage in recent times as industry leaders warn it is days away from disaster.
Dennis Spurr, who owns Fantastic Sausage Factory, in St Mary's Street, said panic buying has returned with the worst meat supply shortages he has ever seen.
A cocktail of issues has left the UK scrambling to make ends meet as food and carbon dioxide prices sky rocket.
Mr Spurr said: "I don't use CO2 products. It makes products last longer but we cut fresh everyday - so that's not a problem.
"I've managed to get turkey crowns in, which were snapped up by the public very quickly.
"So I re-contacted our supplier within 24 hours, but the supplier is now allocating them due to demand.
"I think panic buying has returned, which we saw at the start of the pandemic.
"I've heard of supply shortages before, but I feel this time it's different. It's the worst I've seen it.
"I've never seen so many gaps on supermarket shelves at this time of the year.
"Meat shortages seem to be true this time - rather than scaremongering."
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A lot of fingers have been pointed at the country leaving the European Union to be the reason for the shortages.
"Brexit was ill-thought through, and no one thought this would happen," said Mr Spurr.
"We're not part of the European club anymore and we have to accept the consequences.
"The prices of beef has risen and I've given up on importing lamb because it's too expensive."
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Jordan Meyer works at Suffolk-based Associated Casings, which supply the sausage skins to Fantastic Sausage Factory.
"Importing and exporting has become so expensive," said Mr Meyer.
"In March, it cost our company £1,000 to export two sausage skin pallets to Italy and Spain. I would bet it's gone up in price since.
"Getting into mainland Europe through Calais is now a major issue.
"A health certificate is required whenever we export costing £60, which wasn't needed before we left the EU.
"It's not uncommon, even with the certificate, for our exports to be rejected. I would say it's being done deliberately to make a point because we left the EU.
"Our firm is now concentrating on building relationships within the UK."
A number of issues has also led to a stark shortage in workers to butcher and pluck turkeys ahead of Christmas, leaving farmers grappling with the prospect of slaughtering their own animals.
The NFU is currently lobbying the government to introduce new visas for foreign workers, most of whom come to the UK from Eastern Europe, in a bid to curtail the "impending disaster".
David George, communications manager for the south west at NFU, said: “The situation is not good.
“We’re in the position where we depend on labour from Europe and various circumstances have made working in the UK less appealing.
“We’ve not got a short window of opportunity to stop this impending disaster.”
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The sector has been hit by the news that abattoirs are running out of carbon dioxide, used in the humane slaughter of animals.
As a nation we have become accustomed to an immediate supply of food and as a result there is ‘very little slack in the system’, David said.
The Poultry Processors Association revealed that in the UK we consume 50 million chickens a week - if these animals are not killed, a process which relies on Co2 to stun the birds, then farms will quickly be grappling with a lack of space.
Pig farmers have also been hit by the shortage of CO2 - something that is leading to concern among butchers.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said carbon dioxide prices would rise from £200 per tonne to £1,000 as the Government agreed to pay tens of millions of pounds to CF Industries to reopen a plant in the UK.
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