Warburtons forced to stop baking crumpets as CO2 trouble spreads
The gas is used to package the baked goods in order to extend their shelf life
FIRST beer and now crumpets - is any food safe from the CO2 crisis?
Household bakery Warburtons has had to stop making crumpets at two out of four of its bakeries, and limited production at a third site, because of short supply.
CO2 - or carbon dioxide - is used to package the baked goods and extend the shelf life.
But a serious European shortage has mean that it's producing "nowhere near" the 1.5million crumpets it normally makes every week.
A spokesperson said: "This [shortage] will remain the case until the CO2 supply returns to normal.
"But, rest assured we are working really hard to keep our products on Britain’s shelves."
What else is CO2 used for?
THE clear odourless gass is a byproduct of ammonia and has plenty of uses.
Food and drink
CO2 is used to change the atmosphere that food is packaged in to extend the shelf life of fresh meat and salads.
About 60 per cent of slaughter houses rely on it to stun and kill pig and poultry too.
It's also used to carbonate liquid and make them fizzy, like pop including Coke and Pepsi, as well as beers like largar.
The drinks industry use it to bottle and keg the beer too.
The gas is also used to treat water and make it safe to drink.
Hospitals
Thanks to its steralising capabilities, it's used to clean and steralise equiptment at hospitals.
It's also used on patients in some invasive surgery, like in an endoscopy.
The gas is also sometimes given to patients during and after they have had general anasthetic if they have difficulty breathing.
Fire extinguishers and oil industry
Fires feed on oxygen and when there's CO2 in the air there is less of it to burn. Thanks to this property, it's used in fire extinguishers to put them out.
It's used to extract oil too from reserves by pushing the oil through pipes when it's put under high pressure.
Sainsbury's is already completely out of the nine-packs of Warburtons crumpets, while Ocado is out of stock of the giant versions.
Experts are warning that the shortage will leave Brits with a lack of choice when it comes to their food shop.
There are fears that the UK could run out of beer because the gas is used to carbonate it and make it fizzy, especially in lagers like Carling and Heineken.
And a chicken and bacon shortage could also be on the cards as CO2 is used by slaughterhouses to kill the animals.
Frozen food could be off the menu too because the gas is used to create dry ice which is used by supermarket delivery vans to keep items frozen.
Ian Wright, top boss as the Food and Drink Federation, told the BBC Today Programme: "We will see fewer chicken dishes, fewer pork and bacon dishes.
"We'll see probably less carbonated drinks and certainly bakery and other things that benefit from what's called modified atmosphere packaging, which is plastic packaging with a tray underneath and a dish of food in them."
He also said that even if the supplies resumed next week, it could take some time for things to get back to normal because "inventories of products have been eroded".
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Scotland's biggest abattoir is closed earlier this week, and some food and drink firms have called on the government to help return the supply.
C02 is a byproduct of ammonia factories which make fertiliser but supplies began drying up two months ago due to planned shutdowns at some of the plants.
Coca-Cola has also "paused some production lines" as giant joins latest hit with UK CO2 shortage.
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