South Africans panicked when they struggled to find Marmite on supermarket shelves. Luckily, this chronic shortage is expected to come to an end soon.
Back in June, the company explained that the production was impacted as brewers yeast, one of the main ingredients in Marmite, was in short supply.
Hi Tim, due to brewers yeast being in short supply (one of the main ingredients in Marmite) Supplies of Marmite have been affected.
As a temporary measure we have stopped production of all sizes apart from our 250g size jar which is available in most major retailers.
— Marmite (@marmite) June 10, 2020
Speaking to IOL, Manufacturing executive of foods at PepsiCo SSA, Mandy Murphy explained that they have been unable to procure any spent yeast during the lockdown because two of their key South African suppliers, the AB-Inbev and Heineken breweries, were not permitted to operate.
“As yeast is a live product, we are unable to stockpile it and hence the production unit had to stop functioning during that period. Once the lockdown started easing, the breweries were able to begin operating at full capacity again,” said Murphy.
Marmite will soon line the shelves once again, thanks to renewed production.
“It takes approximately two weeks for them to build up sufficient spent yeast at their production facilities. The good news is that Marmite production restarted on the 125g jar two weeks ago, and on the larger 250g jar in the first week of October,” Murphy added.
Picture: Twitter / Marmite