The grounding of flights across Europe due to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland last week is likely to leave supermarket shelves destitute of selected fresh produce items.

UK airfreight imports have ground to a halt as European skies remain shrouded in volcanic ash and options for quick, long-haul freight remain few.

The products currently most affected are Kenyan vegetables, Egyptian peaches, South African berries, various Thai products and herbs from a number of sources.

Fears are mounting that the continuing problem and the likely backlog of flights and co-ordination difficulties could run as far as the valuable US cherry season and the next grape source switchover next month. Waitrose has reported that the supplies of pineapple chunks from Ghana and baby sweetcorn from Thailand have already been hit.

At the moment, the route that some UK companies have opted for is the transport of goods via Spain, with the onward journey conducted by road and sea.

But massive pressure on sea traffic between England and France is proving an issue in getting from mainland Europe and passengers are likely to take priority over freight when the airlines reopen.

Dominic Neal, import manager at Hellmann Perishable Logistics at Heathrow, told freshinfo that companies at the airport are “very concerned” but that fresh produce would not be the worst affected category, with fresh fish and flowers the hardest hit.

He said: “We are using other options like road and seafreight, but space is very limited. There is obviously not a lot we can do but keep checking information online. We have heard that even when services are back up and running passengers will take priority.”

One importer said it was “trying to get produce any way we possibly can”, while another source suggested the grounding of nightly flights carrying fruit salad products from South Africa for major UK supermarkets could see some shelves empty.

A spokesman for Tesco told The Independent: "Fewer than one per cent of our products are airfreighted.

"Where possible we are using alternative routes to bring these products to the UK, for example by road and rail from airports which remain open in Europe."

freshinfo will keep you updated on the situation.