Marmite supplies dwindling in supermarkets due to yeast shortage

Supermarkets report limited supplies of Marmite

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It’s the news that Marmite lovers everywhere fear most: supplies of the love-it-or-hate-it yeast spread are dwindling.

The current shortage is due to the fact that stocks of yeast, which is supplies by breweries, are down.

This has left some supermarkets, including Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose, with limited supplies of the 250g jars of Marmite.

The shortage was discussed on the BBC Good Food Facebook group by Kelly Richardson, The Times reports, who posted: “Is anyone else struggling to get Marmite in their part of the country?

“I know it’s due to the lack of beer making etc but can’t find it in Brighton! Everywhere has empty shelves. I just wondered if anyone else experiencing the same.”

The post generated more than 100 comments from people confirming that they, too, had been struggling to find Marmite in their local supermarkets.

Unilever, which produces Marmite, confirmed that it is hoping the reopening of pubs and breweries will increase beer production and therefore supplies of yeast.

A spokesperson said: “We’ve continued to see high demand for Marmite, with more people making meals at home during lockdown as well as reduced supply of yeast from the breweries that supply us.”

It comes after Marmite temporarily stopped production of its 400g jars in June last year, also due to a yeast shortage.

On Twitter, a customer asked Marmite which retailers are currently stocking 400g jars of Marmite as they “need Marmite like oxygen”.

“Due to brewers yeast being in short supply (one of the main ingredients in Marmite) supplies of Marmite have been affected,” the company tweeted.

“As a temporary measure we have stopped production of all sizes apart from our 250g size jar which is available in most major retailers.”

Many other Twitter users expressed their disappointment in response to the news, with one person playfully dubbing the news “Marmageddon”.