Woolworths, Coles Mars Petcare pet food shortage outrages customers

Dog owners are furious over the empty pet food shelves at Woolworths and Coles with a union blaming the shortage on a price dispute between the major supermarkets and manufacturer Mars Petcare.

Customers have shared their frustration on social media at low supply of the pet food range which includes popular dog and cat food products Whiskas, Pedigree, My Dog and Dine.

A “customer notice” has been photographed next to the bare shelves at a number of Woolworths, saying the company is “experiencing supply shortages on some brands in the pet food aisle”.

“We are working hard to get these lines back on shelves and apologise for the inconvenience.”

National Union of Workers regional organiser Mark Schmidt told the Bendigo Advertiser members of the union who work at Mars’ Wodonga factory had said the short supply was related to a price war.

“Mars has had a price rise with its product and Woolworths and Coles are trying to get in and get their cut and my understanding is that’s why there has been a hold-off,” Mr Schmidt said.

“The warehouses are full, so it’s not that there’s a shortage in the product. It’s the fun and games that go with a product price rise.”

Nicole Needham said in a Facebook post she was disappointed that her local store in Sydney’s western suburbs were low on stock for her furry friends.

“My local Woolworths in St Mary’s has no pet food and they have no idea about what’s going on,” she said.

Another user, Elena Barger, said the empty shelves were a depressing sight.

“We could make our own pet food, no problem there, but being Russian I hate to see empty shelves in the supermarket,” she said.

“Brings back memories of the socialist’s paradise.”

Jade posted: “One of your staff members just told me there is a ‘national shortage’ of canned dog food, that’s why there is zero sitting on the shelves in my local store … why the heck haven’t you let people know.”

Another customer, Rachelle, posted: “When will we see dog food back on the shelves, living in a small town and only have limited options as to where to shop, yet can’t buy dog food. This is beyond a joke.”

A spokesperson from Woolworths reiterated the apologies displayed on the “customer notice” in store to news.com.au.

“We have recently experienced some supply shortages on a few pet food lines,” they said.

“We’re working with the supplier to improve availability for our customers as quickly as possible. We apologise to customers for the inconvenience.”

A Coles spokesperson said the issue impacting the supply of pet food was coming to an end.

“An availability issue with our supplier resulted in a number of pet food products being out of stock over the past week.

“The good news is that the majority of products are now back on shelves in most stores, and we expect all stores to be fully stocked in the coming days.

“We apologise to our four-legged customers who have been unable to find their favourite brand.”

Continue the conversation on Twitter @James_P_Hall or james.hall1@news.com.au

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