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Marmite is currently only producing small jars of its legendary spread, a tweet has suggested – and fans of the brown, sticky stuff are crushed by the news. 

The crowd-dividing toast topper, made with yeast extract, is now only being produced in a 250g size jar because of a shortage of brewers’ yeast, according to a message sent on the company’s official Twitter account on Wednesday.

When asked by a customer why larger 400g squeezy jars were tough to get hold of at the moment, the firm replied: “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.”

Brewers slowed and stalled production when pubs were forced to shut in an attempt to slow the Covid-19 pandemic.

But beer is not the only thing that has been in short supply. Supermarket shoppers left shelves of flour, pasta and other household staples such as toilet roll bare in early spring as families stocked up at the start of lockdown.

When people caught on that Marmite could also be facing a shortage, they were pretty unimpressed.