Sainsbury’s is suffering a major and mysterious shortage of own-brand cottage cheese in stores around the country, The Grocer can exclusively reveal.
The supermarket has been out of all own-label product lines in stores and has displayed notices to explain the situation to shoppers.
“We are working with our suppliers to make sure we have all of our Sainsbury’s cottage cheese range available as soon as possible,” the notices read. “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Sainsbury’s was today keeping tight-lipped over the problem. “We have had some problems with the availability of cottage cheese in our stores over the last week,” a spokesman confirmed to The Grocer. “However, we have been working hard with our supplier and this has now been resolved.”
The inability to get hold of the cheese will be a blow to dieters, for whom the product is part of a high-protein and low-fat diet.
One shopper posting on weight loss support forum Minimins.com said she went to a Sainsbury’s store yesterday morning only to be told there was a supply issue. “They don’t know when they will get any in,” she wrote. “So I tried 3 local shops and same answer. Anyone else having this problem or is it just me? I’ve never heard of a cottage cheese shortage before lol!”
Sainsbury’s cottage cheese supplier, First Milk, also played down the shortage. “There was a short-term issue on supply of cottage cheese to Sainsbury’s over the last week,” a spokeswoman said. “It is resolved and it’s business as usual.”
Sainsbury’s said it expected to have own-label cottage cheese back in stores again tomorrow (21 April).
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