Falmouth foodies and healthy-eaters alike are in for a shock the next time they visit the shops – as Cornwall is gripped in a courgette crisis with no end in sight.

This crisis has arisen due to the current poor weather in Europe, affecting crop yields of courgettes, and with the conditions being too poor to grow them closer to home.

Reports are coming in that major retailers in Falmouth have run out of courgettes, and several independent high-street retailers have also sold out.

Now a local veg distributor has warned that the crisis is set to continue – and will spread to other types of crops.

Bad weather in southern Spain, France and Morocco has devastated crops of lettuces, spinach, celery, peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines and courgettes.

A tiny percentage of what is normally available are currently on supermarket shelves across the country, and stocks are dwindling fast.

What's more, the price for wholesalers has skyrocketed with a 5kg box of courgettes currently sitting at £22, £15 higher than the usual £7.

The vegetables affected are out of season in the UK, which means that the country has to rely on importing these vegetables to meet demand from customers.

With four month to go until the courgette season returns to Cornwall, people are being warned to expect a torrid, courgette-less spring.

Colin Putt, sales manager at Total Produce in Truro, said: “It’s not just courgettes; it’s all the vegetables from France and Spain.

“Being in Cornwall we have lots of lovely produce we're trying to promote, so there’s plenty of choice out there.

“We supply lots of hotels pubs and restaurants in Cornwall, so we’re letting them know we have a Cornish alternative. Making a ratatouille might be a bit difficult, but there are plenty of alternatives.

“We’re still getting courgettes, but the price has shot up due to the limited supply. So before it was £6-7 for 5kg, but not we’re paying £22 a box as a wholesaler.

“One of our suppliers has lost five million heads of iceberg lettuce, so it’s a huge problem.

“It’s spread to Italy, and that’s where we get our spinach from so now there’s a shortage of that.

“It’s not a short-lived thing, our courgettes won’t be around in Cornwall until about May, so people are going to have to get used to it, unfortunately.”

A Tesco spokesperson said, “Due to bad weather conditions in Spain, we are experiencing a few availability issues, but are working with our suppliers to resolve them as quickly as possible.”