A shortage of this essential Christmas food could mean Brits will have to go without a classic this year

Leading retailers including Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Morrisons have issued a mince pie shortage warning ahead of Christmas, meaning Brits could have to go without the festive essential this year.

Stocking your fridge ready for Christmas is always a lot of fun, with the best Christmas food for 2021 already hitting shelves and so many Christmas food hampers available packed with traditional Christmas treats.

And we all know that Christmas isn't complete without mince pies or Christmas pudding, but it turns out we might have go without this year, as supermarkets have warned customers to expect shortages during the holiday season.

Due to a shortage of lorry drivers, the amount of  dried fruits like raisins, currants, and sultanas (used to make mince pie filling and Christmas pudding) arriving in the UK is limited. The holiday treats are the latest items to be hit by the nationwide labour and supply chain crisis, which has also impacted gas prices.

Since the recent fuel shortage and warnings of a Quality Street shortage ahead of Christmas, families have rushed to stock up early for the festive season with supermarkets reporting a 10% increase in sales of mince pies compared to this time last year.

With all of the recent warnings, food sales analyst Mintec warned that the shortfall could mean our favourite mince pies have a heftier price tag.

Mintec told The Star, "UK buyers in the nuts and dried fruit sector are... experiencing similar issues facing other sectors. Supplies are delayed at UK ports or buyers’ warehouses amid the lack of road transport capacity."

Brexit, the pandemic and seasonal vacancies have all been blamed for the supply chain crisis, which has increased the number of unfilled jobs to 1.1 million. The effect on the supply chain has already forced fast food store KFC to run out of chicken.