CONSUMERS have been dealt a fresh blow by European vegetable shortages as lettuce became the latest staple to fall victim to the 'crisis'.

Supermarkets have rationed the number of lettuces each customer can purchase in stores and iceberg, sweet gem and romaine varieties have been taken off sale completely by some online.

An extreme mix of drought followed by flooding and freezing conditions has severely affected growers in southern Spain, while poor conditions have also hit farmers in Italy, Greece and Turkey.

Experts have warned that if the weather does not improve in the coming weeks the problem may continue until April, with customers hit by price rises.

The lettuce shortage follows similar reductions in the supply of courgettes, while salad peppers, broccoli and cabbage supplies are also under pressure.

Concerned healthy eaters have been sharing pictures of bare supermarket shelves with the hashtags #lettucecrisis and #courgettecrisis, while complaining that prices have nearly tripled in recent weeks.

Spain normally supplies half the vegetables on the European market during the winter months.

Supermarkets have been forced to look as far afield as the US west coast - more than 5,300 miles from Britain - to meet demand.

A Tesco spokesman said they were 'experiencing some availability issues' due to the bad weather in Spain.

"[We] are working with our suppliers to resolve them as quickly as possible," he said.

Signs have gone up in Tesco stores stating customers will be limited to buying three per person.

Morrisons has a limit of two icebergs to stop "

'bulk buying', and is limiting broccoli to three heads per visit.

A Morrisons spokesman said: "As a result of the fact that the Spanish harvest has been very difficult this year, we have just about enough coming in to supply our customers.

"We want to stop local tradespeople and restaurateurs coming in and buying lots of stock."