Shoppers have spotted fake carrots in Fakenham, cardboard asparagus in London, pictures of oranges and grapes in Milton Keynes, and 2D washing liquid bottles in Cambridge. Sainsbury’s has also used outline drawings of packaging to fill shelves.

The tactic comes as shortages of HGV drivers and pickers and packers on farms and food processing plants lead to low availability of some items in supermarkets. Problems at ports, where handlers are struggling to cope with a surge in deliveries for the festive season, are also leading to shortages.

Bryan Roberts, a retail analyst at Shopfloor Insights, said he had only begun to see the cardboard cutouts of fresh produce in the past year, but said similar tactics had been in place elsewhere in supermarkets for some time. “It has become quite commonplace. It is not only because of shortages, but because a lot of the larger stores are now simply too big.”

He said the cutouts were one of an array of tactics being used to fill space, including filling meat fridges with bottles of tomato sauce or mayonnaise, spreading packs of beer out across whole aisles, and erecting large posters or other marketing material.

Tesco, which has boasted that its sales have been boosted by its ability to keep shelves stocked, said the fruit and vegetable pictures were not linked to the recent supply chain issues and had been in use for many months.

Traditional supermarkets, which can stock more than 40,000 product lines, have been honing their grocery ranges to improve efficiency so they can cut prices and compete more effectively with discounters such as Aldi and Lidl, which sell fewer than 3,000 different products.

That process has only been accelerated by Brexit and the pandemic which have led to staff shortages and difficulties in shipping goods. Supermarkets and manufacturers have reduced the range of different types of pasta, coffee or teas they sell to make it easier to keep goods flowing.

With the pandemic scrambling travel plans, many of us are staying put this summer. But can your own house ever be as restful a vacation setting as flopping on a sunlounger?

Numbers of serious coronavirus cases in London are stabilising, a health chief has said.

Prof Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England, said hospital admissions for Covid-19 in the capital were reaching a plateau but they were still rising elsewhere in the UK.

London has had the highest number of – and steepest rise in – infections in Britain since the pandemic began.

The death toll for the whole UK has risen above 10,000 after another 737 fatalities were recorded in just 24 hours.

“We can begin to see London stabilising,” Prof Doyle said. “But on the other hand, for Great Britain we start to see other areas increasing, particularly the northwest and Yorkshire,” she added.

“It’s very important that the message about staying home and social distancing is adhered to because we are certainly not past this crisis’ damage yet.”