Now there’s a Pepsi Max shortage! As CO2 gas crisis pushes up price of fizzy drinks
Supermarkets have been running low on stock and prices have gone up by 8 per cent in the past month
IT looks like Pepsi Max could be the next victim of the CO2 supply shortage.
Supermarket stocks have been running low and prices have gone up by 8 per cent in the past month, according to MySupermarket.
CO2 - or carbon dioxide - is the gas that's used to pump into soft drinks to give them bubbles to make fizzy pop like Pepsi and Coke, as well as beers like Carlsberg and Heineken.
The price comparison site, which monitors supermarket stock, reported that the number of times Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's was out of Pepsi Max was up 20 per cent since mid-June, compared to being close to zero a month ago.
Morrisons is currently out of 1.5litre bottles, while Waitrose and Sainsbury's were out of stock of 2 litre bottles earlier this week, according to .
The price of Pepsi Max has also gone up, with a 2 litre bottle now costing an average £1.55, up 11.5 per cent than the previous month, reported.
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.
An eight-pack of 330ml cans is now £3.60 on average, up 5.8 per cent than before the CO2 crisis.
The European supply of carbon dioxide is at an all time low thanks to unplanned ammonia plant closures.
Despite some of them reopening, the Food and Drink Federation warned that shoppers could experience an "ongoing impact" because of the how long the disruption went on for.
A spokesperson for Britvic said: "The closure of several CO2 production sites in Northern Europe has impacted supply into the UK and Ireland, including to many food and drink businesses.
"We have been working closely with our existing CO2 suppliers to minimise disruption as well as obtaining alternative sources of supply.
"All of our factories have been, and remain, open and we continue to work with our customers to ensure continuity of supply to them across all of our brands including Pepsi MAX."
The gas shortage could also cause a lack of supply of fresh chicken, as it is used in the slaughtering and packaging process.
It even forced Warburtons to stop baking crumpets at two of its four bakeries.
Coca-Cola also "paused some production lines" last month as giant joins latest hit with UK CO2 shortage.
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