On December 6, 2025, beaches in the county of Sussex on the southern coast of England were battered by barrages of bananas. Tons of bananas washed ashore at Selsey, Bognor Regis, and Pagham Harbour in West Sussex. Some also washed further inland, making a slippery mess on coastal roads.

Where did the yellow tide come from? 16 shipping containers fell off the cargo ship Baltic Klipper near the Isle of Wight. Eight of the lost containers were filled with bananas, while others contained plantains and avocados.

Authorities cordoned off the area and warned the public not to eat the fruit due to seawater contamination. A massive clean-up operation eventually collected nearly 100 tons of waste.

The edible onslaught had just begun, however. On January 8, off the Isle of Wight during Storm Goretti, there was a serious chip wreck.

Millions of uncooked, packaged chips (french fries) washed up on beaches near Eastbourne and Beachy Head in East Sussex, UK, after shipping containers from the cargo ship Lombok Strait were lost in the storm. The chip wreck covered parts of the coastline in up to two feet of frozen food, triggering a massive, volunteer-led cleanup effort to remove the plastic packaging that threatens local marine life.

Thousands of onions, which had been lost when a container was washed overboard from a ship a few days before the chip wreck, littered the shingle beach at Brighton, 30km to the west, providing a feast for the city’s population of seagulls.

Large quantities of tinned condensed milk have also been washed ashore. Hundreds of local resident volunteers turned out to help clear the beaches of the edible foodstuffs, but also looked out in particular for plastic bags, which could endanger the local seal population.

Chip wreck! Tens of thousands of chips wash ashore near Eastbourne (UK)

Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.