Advertisement

Crisp crisis fears in New Zealand after potato shortage

People in New Zealand are calling it the 'chipocalypse' - Alamy
People in New Zealand are calling it the 'chipocalypse' - Alamy

The people of New Zealand are experiencing a "chipocalypse" after a potato shortage caused a crisp crisis.

A year of heavy rain put a dampener on the country's potato crop, which had a knock-on effect on crisp production.

20 per cent of the crop was wiped out by serious floods which hit the north and south of the country, and most potatoes affected were the "crisping" variety.

The news has worried New Zealanders, with some posting that they were worried they wouldn't be able to get their favourite snack.

However, some of New Zealand's biggest retailers have said they don't know if there will be an issue, because they have surplus crisps in stock.

Despite there being notes displayed in supermarkets due to an ordering error, which helped stoke fears of a crisp shortage, Foodstuffs' spokeswoman Antoinette Laird told Stuff.NZ that it was unlikely the shortage would affect her stores in the near future.

"More information has come to light today. It turns out the store's sign was incorrect. Their issue was actually due to an ordering error.

"We hold a lot of product in our distribution centres and so we aren't short at this stage.

"We work with our supplier community to manage any supply and demand issues.

The grower community is highlighting a potential future potato shortage due to the bad weather we've had this year.

"This has not impacted our business as yet, and we are working with our suppliers to minimise any potential impact,"

A spokesperson for another retailer, Countdown, said their suppliers said there will be fewer crisps provided in coming months due to the shortage.

He said: "Our suppliers have said that there could be fewer potato chips supplied in the coming months, however we will work directly with our suppliers to manage this.

"There is no impact on fresh or frozen potatoes, or other snacking categories."