It has been pointed out to me once or twice before that I might have a slight addiction to Diet Coke with lime. Which, for the record, is far from being the same as Diet Pepsi with lemon. Eek!
The lime part is very important. Diet Coke without lime is like Ernie without Bert, Kermit without Miss Piggy, or Oscar the Grouch without his trash can.
So I was rather saddened earlier in the week when I flew Alaska and was informed they weren’t carrying limes for the time being. I didn’t think much of it till I did some research. It appears that the price of lime has gone up exponentially this year, from $14 per case to over $100 per case. Apparently we import 95% of our lime from Mexico, and there are two major issues causing the price increase.
Per the Daily News:
The cause can be traced across the border, to the central state of Michoacan, home to the world’s biggest supplier of limes and current site of a bloody war between citizen self-defense groups and the violent Knights Templar cartel.
Fighting and hijacking of lime trucks by cartel members have slowed exports to a crawl, coupled with farmers refusing to pay extortion fees to Knights Templar enforcers.
Heavy rains and a tree disease afflicting the area has not helped.
“Mexico received some heavy rains that destroyed a large amount of the lime crop, so with limited supplies we are seeing lime prices skyrocket,” said Bryan Black, spokesman for the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Lime buyers say prices have more than quadrupled this year, jumping from $14 a case to more than $100.
Based on reading a bit on FlyerTalk, it appears as if Alaska and United have stopped serving limes aboard for the time being.
Has anyone experienced the lime shortage aboard a flight, especially on airlines other than Alaska or United?
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