The American Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain in Australia was forced to use cabbage in its sandwiches, as an alternative to lettuce, due to a shortage crisis throughout the country.
Kentucky Fried Chicken told its customers that it was using a mix of lettuce and cabbage, after floods destroyed lettuce crops in Australia, according to the BBC.
It comes as shoppers in Australia have struggled with the price hikes of some fresh fruits and vegetables.
Social media users posted pictures of the lettuce at a cost of more than $7.18, three times the usual price.
Kentucky Fried Chicken in Australia wrote on its official website: “Due to the recent floods in New South Wales and Queensland, we are currently experiencing a lettuce shortage, so we are using a mix of lettuce and cabbage on all products containing lettuce until further notice.”
The famous restaurant chain emphasized that if customers wish not to put lettuce on their food, they must click the “Customize” button on the product they have chosen to eat, and remove the lettuce from it.
It is noteworthy that this is not the first time this year that Kentucky Fried Chicken has suffered from a shortage of food. This was due to staff shortages working for Australia’s largest supplier of chicken, Ingams, as a result of the rapid spread of the Omicron mutant across eastern Australian states at the end of last year.
The American chain of McDonald’s restaurants also suffered from a shortage of potato chips in some of its outlets in Asia, including in Japan and Singapore, due to the global supply chain crisis.
Like countries around the world, Australia has been affected by food supply chain problems caused by the Ukrainian crisis and the emerging “Corona” virus.
Food production in Australia was also affected by extreme weather events, such as major floods on the east coast, earlier this year, which contributed to raising the cost of living for Australians, as consumer prices rose by 5.1 percent in the first three months of 2022, which is higher Inflation rate in the country for 20 years, with expectations that it may witness a higher rise.
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia raised borrowing costs more than expected, to try to control rising inflation.
The Reserve Bank of Australia also raised its key interest rate, by half a percentage point, to 0.85 percent.
The bank explained that it made this decision due to the price hike caused by a number of reasons, including supply chain disruptions related to (Covid-19), the Ukrainian crisis, and floods occurring within Australia.