After McDonalds, some Subway outlets in India have decided to do away with with serving tomatoes citing quality issues due to soaring prices. However, the government said retail prices of tomatoes are expected to fall with higher supply of new crops from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh
Amid skyrocketing prices of tomatoes in India, some Subway outlets have decided to do away with serving tomatoes in their salads and sandwiches due to quality problems. The move comes two weeks after McDonald's restaurants in India dropped tomatoes from their burgers and wraps due to quality issues.
A Subway outlet at a Delhi airport terminal announced the "Temporary Unavailability of TOMATOES" in a sign saying the restaurant could not get procure enough supply that passed its quality checks. Many Indian outlets were still offering tomatoes, according to checks of food ordering apps and calls to stores, but at least two in New Delhi, one in Uttar Pradesh and one in Chennai in the south had stopped, according to a report by Reuters. "It's very expensive," one Subway store employee was quoted as saying.
The retail prices of tomatoes have shot up to Rs 200-250 per kilogram in several parts of the country as supply chain got disrupted due to monsoon rains and other issues.
The average daily retail price of tomato had crossed Rs 150 per kg in Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the week July 10-16. As on July 18, the average retail price in Delhi declined to Rs 130 per kg and to Rs 127.70 per kg in Punjab, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ashwini Kumar Choubey said in a written reply to a question by independent member Kartikeya Sharma.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ashwini Kumar Choubey attributed the recent increase in prices to a combination of factors like "crop seasonality, white fly disease in Kolar (Karnataka), instantaneous arrival of monsoon rains in northern part of the country which adversely affected tomato crops in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and logistics disruptions in isolated areas due to heavy rains."
The government on Friday said retail prices of tomatoes are expected to fall with higher supply of new crops from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ashwini Kumar Choubey said, "Prices of tomato are expected to come down with the increase in arrival of new crop from Nashik, Naryangaon and Aurangabad belt in Maharashtra and also from Madhya Pradesh."
He said the "current increase in tomato prices may incentivise farmers to grow more tomato crop which is expected to stabilise the prices in coming months".
Meanwhile, the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) are continuously procuring tomatoes from 'mandis' in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, and making them available at affordable prices in major consuming centres in Delhi-NCR, Bihar and Rajasthan, among other places.